


Chaelisa ♣ One-Shots

by PhoebeOBrien



Category: BLACKPINK (Band)
Genre: Chaelisa - Freeform, F/F, jensoo, lichaeng - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2020-05-17 00:13:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 41,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19328956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoebeOBrien/pseuds/PhoebeOBrien
Summary: Just a bunch of One-Shots/Short Stories to feed your Chaelisa heart.





	1. You're A Mess

Chaeyoung moved around the kitchen, the yellow apron Lisa had bought her for Christmas tied around her waist. Lisa always teased her that when she put the apron on 'things were about to get serious'. Which just meant that Chaeyoung was in the mood to bake and literally would make anything and everything. 

Today she had decided on strawberry cupcakes from scratch, knowing Lisa would love anything with her favorite fruit in it (or generally, everything Chaeyoung does for her). The moment Lisa heard Chaeyoung rustling around the kitchen she had ventured out, hopping up on the counter in her normal spot when Chaeyoung baked.

"Whatcha making me," Lisa asked teasingly as Chaeyoung rummaged in the fridge. Chaeyoung glanced up, raising her eyebrow playfully at her girlfriend. "Who said I was making something for you," Chaeyoung responded giving Lisa a smirk scrunching her nose playfully at her. She placed the strawberries, milk, and eggs on the counter biting her lip as she tried to think of what else she needed. 

Lisa gazed over at her adoringly, she loved that intensity when Chaeyoung was in baking mode. It was adorable and part of the reason Lisa perched herself up on the counter to watch the older girl move around the kitchen. But also cause she liked distracting Chaeyoung just to watch the way her eyebrows furrowed and she huffed at Lisa.

Chaeyoung began mixing the flour with all the other dry ingredients, standing next to Lisa who was walking her fingers up Chaeyoung's arm. Chaeyoung was so sensitive, the slightest touches would make it hard for her to pay attention to what she was doing. Lisa knew this and used it to her advantage constantly. 

"Babe stop," she said trying to focus but spilling some of the flour onto the counter causing Lisa to smirk knowing she was having her desired effect.

"You are a mess," Chaeyoung said picking up some of the spilled flour and flicking it towards Lisa. "Literally a mess," Chaeyoung giggled as she took in how the white powder had coated parts of Lisa's nose and her lips. Lisa's eyes narrowed as her mouth scrunched, glaring at Chaeyoung. 

"Oh yeah," Lisa said and tried to pull Chaeyoung into her wrapping her legs around the older girl's waist. She tried to kiss her girlfriend, but Chaeyoung struggled giggles spilling from her mouth as stayed just out of reach.

"Ew, babe don't kiss me you have flour all over your mouth," Chaeyoung squealed as Lisa raised her eyebrow playfully still struggling to pull Chaeyoung in. "Oh wonder how that happened? Here," Lisa said taking some of the flour in her hand and blowing it towards Chaeyoung coating her face and parts of her hair. Seeing the dusting of flour covering Chaeyoung made Lisa laugh, especially when Chaeyoung looked at her in disbelief. 

"I can't believe you just did that," Chaeyoung huffed grabbing more flour and tossing it at Lisa. Lisa hadn't expected it, causing her grip on Chaeyoung to slacken so she was able to get away. Soon the two were running around the kitchen, flour flying everywhere until Chaeyoung ended up slipping onto the floor unable to stop giggling. Lisa soon straddled her girlfriend a mischievous smile on her lips. 

They were both covered from head to toe in flour. "Still won't kiss me," Lisa asked with a smirk. Chaeyoung wrapped her fingers into the front of Lisa's shirt and pulled her down to kiss her deeply. The moment the kiss broke, Chaeyoung smiled up at her girlfriend. 

"I'm gonna go jump in the shower and you can clean up the kitchen," Chaeyoung said sticking out her tongue teasingly.


	2. Maybe Tickling isn't so Bad [M]

Chaeyoung hates to be tickled, mainly because of how ticklish she is. Lisa is fully aware of how Chaeyoung feels about being tickled and yet lately whenever the two cuddle she has been tickling the older girl. Which usually leads to Chaeyoung overpowering her girlfriend and pinning her down so she has to stop.

Chaeyoung had begun to expect it, that day was no different. Both of them had a long day, practicing for their comeback, and had come home to curl up together on the couch in their dorm. 

Lisa laid half on top of Chaeyoung, who was absentmindedly playing with her girlfriend's hair as they watched some Disney movie. Out of the corner of her eye, Chaeyoung could see Lisa's hand beginning to shake up her body and she let out a huff. 

"Lisa, don't," she said looking down at her girlfriend which only made Lisa smirk. "I'm serious do-," her voice was cut off and replaced by giggles as Lisa began to tickle her.

Chaeyoung tried her hardest to squirm away from her girlfriend, but Lisa wasn't letting up. It took a lot of struggling and even some tickling on Chaeyoung's part before the younger girl was underneath her and Chaeyoung was straddling her waist. Chaeyoung took Lisa's hands and pinned them over her head, taking a second to calm her breathing as she glared down at her girlfriend, a sweaty mess. 

"Why do you keep doing that? You know I hate to be tickled," she breathed taking in how Lisa was trying but failing, to hide her smirk as she gazed up at Chaeyoung.

Realization began to set in for Chaeyoung, every time Lisa tickled her this was usually how they ended up. And more times than not it had lead to sex. "You're doing this on purpose aren't you," she accused narrowing her eyes down at Lisa. Lisa bit her lip shaking her head as she tried to sound convincing. 

"Me nope, not at all, I'm definitely not trying to get you to get me like this, nope," she said unable to hide her smirk as she quirked her head a bit.

Chaeyoung sighed letting her gaze move up to the ceiling and shaking her head in disbelief that it took her this long to figure out what Lisa was up to. She had to admit, the sex after was usually really good, so maybe she shouldn't be too mad. Chaeyoung began to roll her hips down as her gaze moved to her girlfriend a mischievous smile spreading across her lips. 

"I mean I could just tease you and not give in since you tickled me," she said even though she knew that there was no way she would be able to resist at this point, but Lisa didn't know that.

"Wait, what..Chae c'mon I was just joking," Lisa said her voice already going a bit shaky as her girlfriend leaned down and began to kiss down her neck. Lisa's eyes fell closed, focused on the way Chaeyoung's lips were trailing across her skin and the way she was painstakingly slowly grinding down against her. She squirmed slightly trying to get her arms away, but Chaeyoung's grip was too strong. 

"Babe, please c'mon," she breathed sounding needier than she had in a very long time.

Chaeyoung sucked softly against Lisa's pulse point, as she nipped playfully against her girlfriend's skin. "Nope you deserve this, you know how I feel about being tickled," she whispered in her Australian accent she knew drives Lisa crazy, against Lisa's skin sending a shiver through the younger girl. 

"I may give you what you want, but I need to know how bad you want it," Chaeyoung whispered moving her mouth up to Lisa's ear.

Lisa's breath hitched, this was a side of Chaeyoung only she got to see and she loved that. Just like this was a side of Lisa only Chaeyoung got to see. "Chaeng, please I need you so bad," she whimpered as she continued to squirm needing more of the other girl. A part of Chaeyoung wanted to drag this out longer, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't feeling just as needy to give Lisa what she wanted.

Chaeyoung removed her hands so that Lisa's were finally free, pushing her girlfriend's shirt up. Chaeyoung's lips began to trail open mouth kisses down Lisa's body stopping above the waistline of Lisa's sweatpants. Lisa's breathing became more shallow, her whole body on fire in anticipation. Chaeyoung was the only one who had ever got her to this point, her body reacting to ever touch, kiss, bite in such a way where she was desperate for more.

Chaeyoung moved between her girlfriend's legs, her brown eyes gazing up as she tugged at Lisa's sweats and panties until she was completely exposed. Chaeyoung moved her mouth back up to where she had stopped kissing, as she continued to trail down a soft hum escaping her lips as a whine escaped Lisa's own. "Baby...please," she pleaded her hand moving down to push Chaeyoung's hair from her face.

Chaeyoung smirked up at Lisa before letting her tongue flick teasingly against her girlfriend's clit a moan escaping Lisa's lips. Chaeyoung captured her girlfriend's clit between her lips humming as she sucked. Lisa gripped one hand desperately against the edge of the couch and one hand in Chaeyoung's hair letting out another loud moan. "Oh fuck Chae," she groaned trying to arch up to get more of Chaeyoung's mouth. Chaeyoung took her hands pushing Lisa's waist down onto the couch gazing up at her and shaking her head slightly. If Lisa wanted her to take control she was taking full control.

She moved one hand down, teasing Lisa's entrance with two fingers. Chaeyoung moaned softly against Lisa as she felt how wet she was from all the teasing. Chaeyoung easily slid two fingers in, starting a steady rhythm. Chaeyoung's gaze stayed on Lisa as her girlfriend's eyes fell closed and her moans and whimpers filled the room. "Chae...fu-fuck I'm so close," Lisa moaned starting to pant desperately as her grip on her girlfriend's hair tightened. Chaeyoung curled her fingers deep inside of Lisa, swirling her tongue against the sensitive bud pushing Lisa over the edge. Lisa cried out as her body arched up again, giving in completely to the pleasure coursing through her.

As she began to come down from her high, Chaeyoung slowly slipped her fingers from inside of Lisa and kissed back up her body. With each light kiss, Lisa's body shook until Chaeyoung's lips found Lisa's again. She gave her a soft kiss, a smile spreading across Chaeyoung's lips. 

"Okay so maybe tickling isn't so bad," she giggled softly.


	3. Walls Could Talk (Part 1)

Chaeyoung has lived in LA for 6 months now; Chaeyoung has also lived next door to her neighbor for 6 months now - her very _loud neighbor_. Not loud as in 'yells on the phone 24/7 at the top of her lungs' loud but she is _always_ blasting music at a volume she's sure snakes (that are stone-deaf, mind you) can hear. 

Chaeyoung is far too polite to say anything and her neighbor doesn't have a terrible music taste but on nights she stumbled home, completely shattered from the hectic day of teaching, and wants nothing more than to sleep she certainly doesn't appreciate hearing Pop at ungodly hours.

Some nights she's definitely glad about the loud thumping of a bass as it drowns out the thumping of a headboard on the other side of the wall from some random girl or guy she has in her bed. If Chaeyoung had a dime for every single person her neighbor has had in her bed for the last 6 months she swears she'd be a millionaire.

One night Chaeyoung has just spent two extra hours at school after an excruciatingly long parent-teacher meeting, she flings open the door, drops the bag and kicks off her heels. The tall blonde goes straight for her freshly bought mangoes as her head is thumping and collapses on her sofa, sighing and completely shattered. Yet her ears are met with one of the rarest and beautiful noises: silence.

Chaeyoung fumbles for her phone she'd placed in her blazer pocket earlier and almost squeals when she realizes it's Friday; not only does she not have work tomorrow but it's one of the nights in the week that her neighbor goes quiet. Chaeyoung closes her eyes after taking a slice of the yellow fruit into her mouth and smiles. She then shucks off her blazer and tights and exchanges her work attire for a loose jumper and shorts; Chaeyoung jumps into bed and flicks on her Netflix on her TV, continue eating as she looks to her list.

It's nights like these when her neighbor goes silent that Chaeyoung lives in obliviousness of her neighbor but when she's halfway through episode 5 of her favorite show she hears the door open. Chaeyoung doesn't consider herself a nosey person but when she hears her neighbors voice she can't help but listen in.

"Okay, you can't tell mom I let you gave three ice creams." The girl speaks, voice quieter. "Now go brush your teeth and put on your pajamas." Chaeyoung shifts against her pillows as a muffled voice says something. 

"Okay, just be quiet because I think the girl next door is asleep." Chaeyoung finds herself smiling slightly at the acknowledgment. "I give her enough hell as it is during the week but she doesn't seem to mind." Chaeyoung can almost hear the girl shrug as she resists a scoff.

Eventually, Chaeyoung finishes the episode, finding herself yawning; she goes to brush her teeth before clambering back into bed and falling asleep with no noise at all from her neighbor.

Saturday night is a different story.

Chaeyoung is welcomed with the sound of bloody Ariana Grande at 3 in the morning and she slams her head into her pillow. As much as she enjoys the music on a regular day, right now she just wants to sleep after Jennie had dragged her out earlier in the night. Chaeyoung sat up in her bed and faced her wall, the pillow around the head trick doing jack shit, eyebrows knitted together and a surge of confidence swelling in her chest.

"Will you turn that off!" Chaeyoung yells. "My dead fish can hear it from Melbourne!" She snaps. And to her surprise, the volume is lowered and she hears a snort before that same gorgeous voice this time snarky and sharp.

"If you wanna hear me fuck then sure!" The girl replies and Chaeyoung groans, slumping back down on her bed. The music is then muffled and inaudible and Chaeyoung sighs, eyes drooping until the repulsing sound of some woman moaning and the bed hitting the wall replaces Ari's voice.

"Oh god! Please turn in back on!" Chaeyoung squeaks, feeling flustered and almost hearing her neighbor's smirk as the girl chuckles, this time playing more steady beats of Frank Ocean.

The creaking bed is drowned out and - although she'd never admitted it - the song lulls Chaeyoung to sleep. Chaeyoung knows to add Frank Ocean to her 'sleep time' playlist.

Chaeyoung is pulling on her running shoes the next morning and grabbing her phone as she quietly slips out the door - though she knows it's no use as she practically tripped out of bed. After making sure she has her keys she shuts her door before coming face to face with a taped up note written in messy handwriting.

_"Sorry about the music and the uh... yeah last night. I'll try to keep it down, promise - L"_

Chaeyoung smiled fondly at the note as she held the paper between her index finger and thumb. She then unlocked her door, grabbing a post it and pen. She the scrawled - in her neat block writing - a reply.

_"Don't worry about it, just as long as it isn't after 10. I'm sorry about yelling at you, I don't normally do that. I like your music taste anyway - C"_

Chaeyoung taped the note to the other girl's door, biting her lip and smiling before turning and beginning to jog towards the lift to start her morning run.

When Chaeyoung returned she found another note taped to her door and couldn't help but grin.

_"Good to know someone actually appreciates it, can't say the same for my dates (?) Good to know someone has good taste - L" ___

__Chaeyoung couldn't help but giggle before opening her door and placing the note on her counter. She just couldn't help but wonder what her mysterious neighbor was really like. That night the music was quiet, steady and a soft, melodic voice sang along to it; it seemed to ease Chaeyoung to sleep. Just as her eyes were drooping shut Chaeyoung sat up and knocked on the wall._ _

__"Thanks." She mumbled, loud enough, yawning and head hitting the pillow._ _

__"No problem, C." Came the chuckled reply as Chaeyoung drifted off to sleep, a small smile resting on her lips._ _

____

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Chaeyoung woke up to her alarm blaring Taylor Swift's 22 as she raised her head from her pillow. She blinked her eyes awake as she slapped her nightstand for her phone; her eyes caught the time being 7:30 and she shot up in bed, realizing she set the alarm half an hour late and scrambled towards her wardrobe.

She jumped into her pencil skirt, blouse and blazer before grabbing her keys and bag she packed the night before and bolting out the door. She was fully aware, once she had locked her door, that she was being quite the hypocrite as she was now the one causing the racket at ungodly hours. She scrawled a note and stuck it on her neighbor's door before running for the lifts.

_"I'm sorry if I woke you up this morning, was late for work! - C"_

Chaeyoung caught her tube by the skin of her teeth and sighed; though there wasn't much room to breathe as she was sandwiched between a man and woman with a baby in a pram behind her. 

Chaeyoung managed to get the classroom in time and commenced with her regular day, despite the hectic morning, but through every spare moment, she had her thoughts lingered back to her neighbor: her cocky laugh, some-what considerate manner, and her _voice_. 

Chaeyoung then snapped back to attention, why should she even think of this girl? She'd never spoken to her properly before and her only 'interaction' (if you could even call it that) was momentary and not even a proper conversation. She didn't even know what the girl looked like! She could be an axe murderer!

"Chaeng!" Jennie called, waving a hand in front of the girl's face. "How sleep deprived are you because of that _exhausting_ neighbor of yours, as you call her," Jennie smirked, biting the strawberry off her fork. Chaeyoung would deny that her heart began to beat a little faster at the mention of her neighbor.

"Actually she apologized for the music when I yelled at her and she sounds sweet." Chaeyoung shrugged and Jennie raised her eyebrows, impressed.

" _You_ yelled at someone? That's the part I don't believe." Chaeyoung pursed her lips and giggled, nudging Jennie's shoulder. "Is she hot like I expected?" Jennie winked.

"I wouldn't know, she left me a note on my door," Chaeyoung explained and Jennie nodded.

The rest of the day, despite fleeting (though consistent) thoughts of her neighbor, the rest of the day ran smoothly for Chaeyoung. All her students were surprisingly well behaved - though a few misbehaviors here and there - and did their work quickly and to a good standard. However, she noticed that one of her brightest students was falling behind on some bits of homework. She glanced over to the little girl with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes and pursed her lips.

"Okay, Miss Kim's big kids will be coming in to do some reading and crafts with you guys, but I will be having some separate time with some of you to see how your reading is going," Chaeyoung announced as the door opened, Jennie walking her class of Year 6 students into the classroom. Chaeyoung then looked over to Ella as she pulled out her reading book. 

"Ella, could I see you next?" The girl in question stood up and brought over her reading book, sitting in the chair adjacent to Chaeyoung.

Chaeyoung glanced down to Ella's hand-drawn bookmark, the drawing being of her family: her, her father, mother and her sister - she guessed was in high school - and smiling

"Ella, before we read, I have to ask you about your homework." Chaeyoung began, the little girl looking up at her in slight fear. "Okay, there's no need to worry because you do them excellently but some of them are not finished. Can you tell me why?" Chaeyoung asked, voice gentle as the little girl fidgeted uncomfortably in her chair.

"Miss Park, I'm r-really sorry. I- I..." The little girl stuttered, tears threatening to spill. Chaeyoung immediately felt a pang of guilt as she rubbed her back.

"Okay sweetie, come on." Chaeyoung leads the girl outside and sat her down. "You're not in trouble I just wanted to know if everything is okay? If you're struggling you must tell me." Chaeyoung offered a kind smile and a handkerchief to wipe her tears. The little girl wiped at her tears with her eyes, screwing them up tight to stop them and shaking her head.

"No, I... some days a week I stay with my sister," Ella explained. "And when I stay with her I like to play with her instead of doing work." The young girl mumbled as Chaeyoung nodded, wiping away her tears and smiling warmly.

"Well, how about when you stay with her you tell her you should do your work first and quickly so then you can play with her? You're very smart so I know you can get it done very quickly." Chaeyoung suggested, smiling warmly. The little girl looked up at her and nodded slowly, smiling a small smile.

"Come on, let's get you back inside." Chaeyoung smiled, leading the young girl back into the classroom by her shoulder. The young girl nodded, sitting back down at the chair by Chaeyoung's desk to do some reading. 

The rest of the day carried on smoothly and Chaeyoung content by the end of it, arriving home at 8 after dinner out with Jennie and their friend Wendy. She untied her hair from its ponytail and allowed it to sit loose and wavy during dinner and on the train home. As she walked down her apartment corridor she fished out the notes for her class tomorrow from her bag she found a new note taped to her door.

_"Bit of a hypocrite aren't ya? Only joking, I needed to get up anyway. Did appreciate the Taylor Swift to start my day though ;) - L"_

Chaeyoung couldn't help but grin as she opened her door. She placed her bag back on her chair and did the routine thing of hopping in the shower, changing into pajamas and diving into bed for another Netflix session before falling asleep later on before her neighbor got home.

The rest of the week carried on without any interactions with 'L' as she had lived up to her promise and kept the music down and seemed to have more silent nights that week. Friday night came and as Chaeyoung sat at her desk marking through her class' maths work from earlier on in the day her neighbor was playing music again. 

Chaeyoung unplugged her own headphones and listened to the music, bobbing her head along to it. She found herself recognizing a few songs and googling the lyrics of some songs she didn't quite recognize.

After falling into the rhythm of one particular song she attempted searching the lyrics but nothing matched so she then found herself standing up and walking towards the wall. She then hesitated before knocking promptly on the wall. Chaeyoung waited, about to turn away, until the music stopped and footsteps approached the wall.

"Do you want me to turn it off?" Came the familiar voice of her neighbor, now clearer and apparent that she was also right next to the wall. Chaeyoung giggled for no reason before swaying on the balls of her feet.

"No," She smiled, "I was just wondering what that song you played before was called." There was a soft chuckle in reply and Chaeyoung pictured the girl shaking her head.

"I play a lot of songs babe, need to be a bit specific." Her neighbor laughed. Chaeyoung found herself giggling again and shaking her own head before trying to find a significant part of the song that the girl would recognize herself.

"It... uh... started with drums and then slowed into a steady beat with a guitar or something?" Chaeyoung replied, biting her lip and tracing patterns into the wall. There was a pause before she heard the clicking of laptop keys and then the music started playing.

"This it?" She asked.

"Yes!" Chaeyoung grinned, bouncing on her toes.

"Wake me by Bleachers." The girl replied and Chaeyoung smiled.

"Thanks!" She chirped, finding herself not moving from the wall and she didn't know why.

"No problem... I'm Lisa, by the way," Lisa - as she had just discovered - spoke up, the letter L now no longer a lingering mystery, "Lalisa Manoban." She finished.

"Park Chaeyoung," Chaeyoung replied, smiling and biting her lip as she found herself tracing the girl's name into the wall.

"Nice to meet you, Chaeyoung."

"And you, Lisa," Chaeyoung spoke, words soft and her heart pounding. Goodness, she's doomed.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Sunday morning came and Chaeyoung opened her fridge in desperate need for a milkshake that she was too lazy to go out and buy. She came across an empty milk carton and huffed out.

"I swear if Jennie broke in and drank all my milk I will kill her with words." Chaeyoung huffed out, voice rather loud. She then began to sit down before hearing two sharp knocks. Chaeyoung swung open the door and saw no one before noticing a carton of milk on the floor and a note:

_"I always have extra as my own friends Jisoo and Bambam forever drink mine. Next time don't be afraid to ask, Park. - Lisa"_

Chaeyoung shook her head and scrawled a note for Lisa.

_"You're too kind. Thanks a bunch! Glad to know we both have thieves for friends - Chaeng :)"_

Chaeyoung then knocked on Lisa's door, after taping the note, before ducking back inside to finish her work and make her drink. For the next week, Chaeyoung had more conversations with Lisa, finding out more and more about the girl, whose face was still unknown, and seeming to grow more and more fond of her.

One night Chaeyoung was cuddled in bed, finally finishing the season of 'Friends' and humming absentmindedly when two sharp knocks made her jump and almost fall out of bed.

"Hey Chae, you almost fall again?" Came Lisa's teasing voice and Chaeyoung blushed profusely.

"No..." Chaeyoung insisted. "Well maybe, but that's not important."

"What's up with you?"

"Just watching Friends, you made me pause at a very important moment." Chaeyoung huffed jokingly.

"I've started that but haven't had time to finish." Lisa hums. "What episode?"

"Episode 8."

"Same here." Lisa laughs. "Anyways, I just wanted to say something. Do you know my colleague? The moody asshole who acts about 13 years old?" Chaeyoung nodded before remembering Lisa couldn't see her - sometimes she thought she could.

"Yup, Junggoog or something?" Chaeyoung asked and she heard Lisa's hum of affirmation. 

"Turns out he actually liked my performance."

"Really!" Chaeyoung brightened, facing the wall. "Finally he developed the sense of taste." Lisa snorted and tapped the wall as Chaeyoung waited.

"Yeah." Lisa chuckled. "I have to tell my parents, they told me to tell them when Jungkook broke through or some shit." Chaeyoung hummed.

"Your parents pretty supportive."

"Yeah, after I left Thailand to pursue dancing we got distant, but I've gotten really close to them as of recent. Especially my step-sister."

"Is that who I always hear in your apartment?" Chaeyoung asked.

"Yeah, she's great but she reminds me of myself so it's quite scary." Chaeyoung giggled and leaned against the wall on her side.

"You should probably call your parents."

"Oh yeah!" Lisa replied. "I'm glad that I... uh... told you first."

"I'm glad too."

The two talked even more for the next few months, always there for when the other needed to vent or when they just wanted to catch up with each other. Lisa would always tell her funny stories of the trainee's she has in her dancing classes and Chaeyoung would always urge Lisa to catch up with shows so they could watch them at the same time. Chaeyoung knew at this point they were no longer just neighbors, they seemed to be friends.

One Saturday night Chaeyoung was sat in bed, worksheets scattered around her and Friends on her TV, ready for her to watch. Suddenly she heard the door slam open and hearing a couple stumble through the door, a girl with a high pitched voice knocking things over in a drunken haze and giggling so sickeningly. 

Chaeyoung quickly turned on her TV, shuddering at the events to come. Chaeyoung couldn't help the twinge of jealousy, I mean she knew her and Lisa weren't going to get together but she always hoped.

"Can you be a little quiet? My neighbor and I have the thinnest walls." Lisa spoke in a hushed tone.

"I'm sure he won't mind." The girl replied and Chaeyoung scoffed a little.

" _He_ does mind just a little," Chaeyoung spoke, voice clear. "Just don't say her name too much, her ego is already big enough." She joked.

"Ouch Chae." Lisa chuckled and Chaeyoung merely smiled before turning up the volume on her TV.

Halfway through an episode she heard rustling behind her and a huff of annoyance.

"We were having fun though." The girl whined and Chaeyoung couldn't help but eavesdrop.

"I'm just not feeling it," Lisa replied, voice monotonous. "I'll call you a cab to make sure you get home alright. Call me when you get home." Chaeyoung then heard the creak of a bed and the door opening and closing before silence. Chaeyoung tried to not focus on that but how couldn't she. A few minutes later the door opened again before shutting and Chaeyoung heard Lisa sigh.

"You think she'll call?" Chaeyoung asked.

"God, I hope not." Lisa laughed and Chaeyoung couldn't help but smile. "You watching Friends?" 

"Yup, the one with Rachel's sister," Chaeyoung replied. "Catch up and we can watch together!"

"Alright, Park," Lisa replied, Chaeyoung listening for when Lisa had reached the same point as her to press play. The two watched more episodes together and ended up in fits of laughter, Chaeyoung noting that Lisa had the cutest laugh.

A week passed and it seemed that Lisa had fewer people coming over - in fact, none at all. But why should Chaeyoung care? She didn't know herself. Friday came and Jennie made work bearable but Chaeyoung still felt shattered. 

She was flicking through the notes she made on the kids in her class, only 100% happy with Ella if she was being honest. Chaeyoung was not looking where she was going when she entered her building, promptly colliding face first with her door.

"Oh, my god," Chaeyoung muttered, her papers scattered everywhere. Chaeyoung swept her brown waves out of her face, that she had been too lazy to tie up that morning, and began to collect the sheets together. She began to reach out for them as she knelt on the floor, ignoring the pain in her forehead from colliding with the door.

She began to reach for her notebook that had skidded across the floor before a girl with blonde hair, bangs, and warm brown eyes picked it up and handed it to her herself. And, gosh, the girl was _hot_. The girl smirked at her as Chaeyoung stood up; she was flustered with papers stuffed in her bag and her other hand holding the heels that had been killing her feet all day. She looked like a mess and the girl opposite her handed her her notebook.

"Chae?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Chaeyoung felt her heart quicken at the familiar voice.

"Lisa?" She asked, feeling shocked and clinging on to the notebook Lisa handed her for dear life. She knew Lisa was good looking but she didn't realize how gorgeous the girl was till this moment.

"Nice to finally meet you." Lisa laughed. "Take better care of yourself, clumsy."

"No promises." Chaeyoung giggled. "I'm sorry you had to finally meet me when I look like a mess." She apologized and Lisa shook her head.

"You don't look particularly mess...y?" Lisa concluded. "You look cute." Lisa managed a flirty smirk as Chaeyoung blushed. "Finished work?"

"Y-yeah." Chaeyoung stuttered and Lisa smiled. "I'm assuming you also just came back?" Chaeyoung's eyes glanced over Lisa's outfit, a plain black crop top with matching sweatpants and a snapback, there was a thin layer of sweat glistening on her skin, especially on her abs that Chaeyoung found herself having a hard time looking away. 

Lisa nodded and smirked at Chaeyoung's flustered attitude. "Well, it was nice to finally meet you."

"The pleasure was mine, Chae." Lisa winked, the two going back to their apartments.

"Oh I am so screwed," Chaeyoung whispered as she leaned against her closed door, dropping her bag and running a hand through her hair.

She hadn't even gotten started.


	4. Walls Could Talk (Part 2)

Music was cranked up and this time it was - surprisingly - not coming from Lisa's apartment. Chaeyoung, instead, was blasting the Jonas Brother's "Sucker" and dancing around her apartment in a loose shirt and gym shorts, a bowl of cookie dough tucked under her arm and using her wooden spoon as a microphone where appropriate. 

She dipped the spoon into the bowl and shoved it into her mouth as she twirled; she stopped facing Lisa leaning against the wall smirking, arms folded. Chaeyoung yelped and almost dropped the bowl.

"Oh my god, you terrified me!" Chaeyoung exhaled, chewing on the cookie dough as Lisa laughed.

"I'm sorry you just looked so cute." Lisa laughed, walking over to the counter and pushing herself up on to it with the palm of her hand. Lisa sat and swung her legs back and forth as Chaeyoung set the bowl down.

"I should've never given you a key," Chaeyoung mumbled as Lisa grabbed a spoon and shoveled some cookie dough into her own mouth, standing closer to Lisa.

"Admit it, you love having me around babe," Lisa smirked, Chaeyoung sticking her tongue out in response. Chaeyoung couldn't help the way her eyes drifted up Lisa's legs as they swung back and forth, having to mentally slap herself for thinking about her friend like that.

"Debatable." Chaeyoung smiled, finding herself standing with Lisa's knees pressed into her stomach, hands on either side of the younger girl, eyes trailing down her legs.

Maybe it was the fact that Lisa was wearing these white shorts; so maybe it was just Chaeyoung admiring her clothes. Chaeyoung looked up at her gently as Lisa's eyes seemed to glow. Yes, she concluded, it's just Chaeyoung admiring Lisa's battered converse, white shorts, oversized blue shirt.

"Is that my shirt?" Chaeyoung found herself asking realizing that the shirt seemed to be oddly familiar. Lisa stopped with the spoon hanging from her mouth; her eyes wide like a deer in headlights.

"...Maybe..." She mumbled, chewing on the cookie dough slowly. "It's just very comfortable."

"You have a million plaid shirts you can wear, Lis." Chaeyoung giggled, snatching the cookie dough bowl away from Lisa. Lisa rolled her eyes and fished out her food. "So, what has Miss Lalisa Manoban got in store for our Friday night dinner." Chaeyoung hummed as she turned down the music on her speaker.

"Well, if you must know, I have ordered Japanese food because my asshole colleague/ex-boyfriend didn't let me leave today." Lisa shrugged, hopping off the counter. "So I will need a shit ton of ice cream, fried rice, and hugs to get me to recover."

"You're so soft, it's so cute." Chaeyoung smiles, bumping Lisa's hip as the younger girl folds her arms defensively. "You literally just asked me to cuddle with you, Manoban." Chaeyoung giggled as Lisa shrugged.

Thursday nights (and Saturdays) were routine for them and they loved it. Lisa finished her dancing lessons early and would come back to her apartment and cook dinner for her and Chaeyoung (even if most of the time she would burn whatever she cooked and with them ending up with ordering food) and the two would eat it in one of their apartments over conversations that normally consisted of rambling about some TV show, a rant about stupid people they worked with or just conversations that have no value to the regular person but seemed to be so deep and rich to the two girls.

Chaeyoung was aware of how much she stared at Lisa, it was honestly unhealthy, but Lisa's just so beautiful and hilarious and Chaeyoung could hear her talk or sing forever. Plus she has these gorgeous, magnetic brown eyes that live up to their description; drawing in Chaeyoung and holding her like a piece of metal to a magnet.

And Lisa is aware that sometimes when Chaeyoung speaks she feels dazed and wants to drown in her voice and how light and airy her giggle is. Lisa hates it but she pays so much attention to Chaeyoung; when Chaeyoung is passionate about what she's saying her eyebrows knit together slightly and she bites her lip, hand gestures wild and eyes bright and when she laughs her eyes crinkle at the side and her smile is so wide and bright Lisa's almost blinded. And she is never flustered by girls - or guys - like she has been by Park Chaeyoung. 

And she's never been so affectionate with someone before, not even her long term ex-boyfriend and now colleague, Jeon Jungkook, who she dated for almost four years and still didn't like it when he cuddled her and she hated sharing a bed with him, she never wanted to be close to him for too long and she always felt he was too close to her when she sat next to him.

Yet she wants to be close to Chaeyoung for as long as she can and she wants to be even closer. Some Friday nights Lisa can't be bothered to go back next door and just sleeps in Chaeyoung's bed or offers Chaeyoung to sleep in her's. 

It's become so regular and yet so strange to Lisa because she's never felt like this before. And she shouldn't because Chaeyoung's her neighbor and things would just not work out. Lisa thought she loved Jungkook but she never did but he loved her, so much, and now he hates her for dumping him, so much, that he's trying his best to make her work a living hell, but what can she do? Lisa knows unrequited feelings are terrible, that's why she's keeping her ones for Chaeyoung under-wraps for as long as she can.

The night carried on and the two continued to talk to an outrageous hour, the conversation was fluid and flowed like the two had known each other for years rather than only one. The night wound down as the two's eyes grew heavy, Chaeyoung's eyelids drooping as she leaned back against Lisa's chest, the younger girl carelessly running her hands through Chaeyoung's blonde waves.

"Oh shit, I have work tomorrow," Lisa mumbled, stifling a yawn, as Chaeyoung turned her sleepy head up to look at her.

"You can stay over if you'd like," Chaeyoung muttered, sitting up to stretch, her shirt rising above her ribcage as her arms stretched upwards, Lisa's eyes trailing the exposed skin before she stopped her hazy mind. "You have clothes here I should think." Chaeyoung then slumped back into the sofa, rubbing her eyes.

"You don't mind?" Lisa asked and Chaeyoung shook her head, eyes growing heavier and heavier; Lisa did not let her drooping eyes go unnoticed. "Come on Chae." Lisa chuckled, standing up hazily and pulling Chaeyoung up. Chaeyoung mumbled something incoherent as Lisa helped get her comfortable. Chaeyoung flopped down on her bed and shifted up so her head rested on the pillow. 

Lisa shook her head and laughed when Chaeyoung rolled over, beckoning her forward. Lisa shucked off her shorts and crawled over to lie next to her. Lisa switched the lamp off and curled into herself, feeling natural and comfortable in Chaeyoung's bed as she usually did. She then felt arms curl around her and she immediately melted into Chaeyoung's touch.

"You said you wanted to cuddle," Chaeyoung muttered, her breath warm against Lisa's shoulder as she tucked her head into the crook of Lisa's neck.

"Goodnight Chae." Lisa yawned as Chaeyoung echoed her statement. Lisa, at that moment, didn't know what overcame her as she learned to press a kiss to the crown of Chaeyoung's head, the other girl already asleep.

The next morning Chaeyoung woke up with Lisa tucked safely in her arms, she tried to move minimally to check the time, glad when she saw she still had half an hour till it went off. Lisa blinked awake, looking at the clock on Chaeyoung's nightstand and groaning at how early it was, burying her face into Chaeyoung's chest. 

The morning was slow, Lisa finding some acceptable things to wear in her designated drawer in Chaeyoung's wardrobe, but the two were ready to leave by 7:25; they were five minutes ahead of schedule.

"Okay, I have to go now because I have a tube to catch. I'll see you tomorrow?" Chaeyoung asked, knowing Lisa was busy every Friday night.

"See you." Lisa waved, following Chaeyoung out of her apartment to get her stuff from her own. "Don't have a shitty day!" Chaeyoung heard Lisa call as she walked down the corridor to the lift.

"I'll try!" Chaeyoung giggled as she turned to wave at Lisa before slipping inside the lift with a mother and her two children she was, presumably, sending to school.

"You and your girlfriend are so cute." She smiled, placing a hand on her son's head as he tugged mindlessly at her skirt.

"Oh she's not my girl-" Chaeyoung was cut off as the lift opened another family entered, Chaeyoung stepping to the side for more room.

As Chaeyoung stood on the train she flicked through her notes for the parent-teacher conference that night but, alas, her thought just always kept flickering back to Lisa and she couldn't stop. Lisa is her friend she shouldn't be thinking about how much she wants to kiss her and how much she wants to be able to call her her girlfriend like that woman said earlier.

Walking into school everything was normal; she spoke to Jennie at lunch and her classes ran smoothly (read: a few misbehaviors but what else would you expect from children). As the school day came to a close Chaeyoung was drew their attention away from their maths books.

"Okay guys, tonight is parent-teacher conference so is anyone's parents not coming?" When no hands went up Chaeyoung nodded. "Okay, remember you all have times for your meeting with me, does everyone remember them?" There was a chorus of 'yes, Miss Park' as Chaeyoung smiled. "Awesome! I can't wait to see you all, your parents should be meeting you in the hall." 

As the children filed out Chaeyoung began to sort through their workbooks to present to their parents when there was a knock at her door. She looked up and saw the headmistress, Miss Sandara Park, standing in the door frame.

"Hi, Chaeyoung, Ella's parents can't make it tonight so her sister Pranpriya will be coming instead." She said as Chaeyoung nodded, noting it down on a post-it and sticking it on Ella's workbook. Each meeting went well, Chaeyoung being able to answer every question each mindful parent had, and Chaeyoung was drawn to her last one.

The end of the term was drawing near and Chaeyoung was trying to give the best evaluation of each kid that she could, all the kids were on their best behavior recently so she was pleased to tell the parents nice things about them.

As Chaeyoung's second last interview drew to a close Chaeyoung opened her journal and marked it off as she called for the last one. She realized that as of late she had begun to write more with the yellow pen than her usual blue pen, she insisted to herself that it was because the pen was easier to hold and not that this was Lisa's favorite color. 

As the door opened Chaeyoung pushed her horn-rimmed glasses up her nose and found Ella's workbook, as she placed it on the desk she noticed someone sitting in front of her.

"Hi, I'm Miss Park and I've been told you're Ella's sister Pranpriya. How often do you see her and are you a legal guardian?" She said, rifling through some papers to find the notes she made on Ella.

"I look after her every Wednesday, Friday and sometimes Sundays just to-" The voice. Chaeyoung's head shot up to see Lisa staring back at her, stopping mid-sentence and looking shocked.

"Lisa?" She asked, furrowing her eyebrows as Lisa grinned.

"Now I know why Ella speaks so fondly of her teacher." Lisa laughed. Chaeyoung giggled slightly and shook her head. The interview was easy, flowing just like their normal conversations. They talked about all the confusion; Lisa explains how she changed the birth name that she quite disliked (Chaeyoung thought it was adorable), Ella is her step-sister form the second marriage of her mother, Chaeyoung sometimes overhears in Lisa's apartment and when Chaeyoung said 'school' because thought she was doing her masters. 

They did talk about Ella, of course, and Chaeyoung praised her as her best student. "I honestly don't know where she got her work ethic from." Lisa shook her head and Chaeyoung couldn't help but laugh.

"She isn't a bad student at all, it's just on the nights she stays with you sometimes she doesn't complete her work. So just sit her down and makes sure she does it then do what you like really." Chaeyoung concludes, Lisa, nodding alongside her reasoning. "It seems as if you're not only distracting to me when I'm trying to sleep or get work done with your loud music."

"Hey, we all appreciate a little Billie Eilish at 2 AM." Lisa teased as Chaeyoung smiled fondly at the memory of the first time Lisa was blasting music and she was no longer on the other side of the wall during the occurrence. The meeting finished and Lisa waited for Chaeyoung to pack up before the two picked up Ella from the library and caught the tube back.

"Can I ask you something?" Lisa asked as they approached their apartments. Chaeyoung hummed and nodded as she tried to fish her keys out from her blazer pocket. "Would it be okay if you bring Ella back on Wednesdays and Fridays? My parents can't pick her up and my job is quite a distance." She explained, Chaeyoung noticing her tired eyes and smiling warmly.

"Of course, it's the most convenient thing after all. I mean Ella is right there when I finish so might as well." Chaeyoung reasoned and Lisa smiled in thanks.

"What would I do without you." Lisa smiled, getting her own apartment door open and Ella running inside.

"Be able to play your music loud." Chaeyoung hummed, winking and closing her door as Lisa shook her head.

"I'm rubbing off on you!" Lisa called through Chaeyoung's door as the taller girl laughed. "And you're having dinner with Ella and me tonight!" Chaeyoung giggled as she set her head back against the door.

"Alright," Chaeyoung mumbled, drumming her fingers on the wall adjacent to her.

It began to become routine; Chaeyoung would walk Ella back to their apartments and set her to do her homework whilst she did some marking so when Lisa came back the three would play together, Ella loving to make up plays and have her two actors perform it. Sometimes Lisa would be quite late coming back so Chaeyoung would tuck Ella into bed, using the key Lisa had given to her, and read to her or sing to her (Ella's personal favorite being her original songs).

One night Lisa texted she'd be back late so Chaeyoung and Ella finished up their food and Chaeyoung left Ella to draw as she typed up her lesson plan. The time drew near to Ella's bedtime so Chaeyoung took her through her usual bedtime routine of a bath, brushing her teeth and bed. As Ella scrambled under the covers she looked at Chaeyoung expectantly, a wide smile on her face that mirrored Lisa's so symmetrically.

"Can you sing that one song you sang last week?" Ella asked, blue eyes wide and pleading as Chaeyoung smiled fondly.

"Of course." She smiled, beginning to sing the opening lines to her song 'Don't Know What To Do'. What Ella doesn't know, however, is that Chaeyoung wrote the song for Lisa - sorry - about Lisa. As the young girl's eyes fluttered shut Chaeyoung began to walk out of the room as quietly as possible.

"Chaeyoung?" Came her small tired voice. The tall blonde turned to see Ella sleepily raising her head, her tiny frame downing in pillows and duvet. "Do you love Lisa?" She asked through a yawn. Chaeyoung paused and bit her lip, leaning against the door frame.

"Love is a very big word... but I do love Lisa very much," Chaeyoung replied, not hesitant and completely truthful. The young girl nodded in approval as she settled back against her pillow.

"Good."

"Good?"

"Good because," Ella paused and looked around, "don't tell her I said this but she loves you a lot too." She yawned and Chaeyoung couldn't help the way her heart fluttered. "But that's a secret." She mumbled and Chaeyoung couldn't help but giggle.

"Promise I won't tell." She said, crossing over her heart jokingly as the young girl smiled sleepily. "Now, come on, sleep time."

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

A week later Chaeyoung received a text from Lisa saying she'd be late because her colleague was being an ass again. Chaeyoung shot her back 'a good luck' before turning back to playing with Ella. Eventually, she let Ella loose to color in the coloring books she had bought her previously, Ella's face lighting up in excitement.

"I think I left my crayons next door." The young girl said after rifling through her backpack.

"I'll go fetch them." Chaeyoung hummed, grabbing the key for Lisa's apartment and her own. She left Ella at her kitchen table deciding what colors she would use for each picture.

Opening the door Chaeyoung began to step out before stopping dead in her tracks. What she saw was definitely not what she'd expected; Lisa had pinned some guy against her door. Her lips were eager and ferocious and Chaeyoung stood stock still, not being able to look away. And why was she focused on the behavior on Lisa's lips for God's sake! 

Chaeyoung didn't realize she was leaning till her head hut the door and it let out a creak in the middle of the previous silence. Chaeyoung squeaked and jumped, Lisa doing the same as she saw Chaeyoung.

"S-sorry, I didn't know you uh..." Chaeyoung stuttered, awkwardly trying to look anywhere else but at the younger girl.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid Stupid.

"It's fine, I'm sorry I didn't say..." Lisa said cheeks flushed.

"Ella wanted her crayons..." Chaeyoung mumbled. "I'll go get her whilst you uh... yeah." She spoke quickly and stepped back in.

"Chae-"

"Sorry for being a cock block," Chaeyoung muttered, shutting her door and tipping her head back against it. She inhaled deeply. "God, I'm so stupid." She knew nothing was ever going to happen between them yet she still fell for her and she hated it. 

Of course, Lisa would never like her; Lisa has lines of girls and boys alike waiting to get into bed with her and who was she to think she had a chance - Lisa is her neighbor for god's sake. "Oh, my god..." Chaeyoung muttered.

Chaeyoung remembered what she was meant to be doing, telling Ella Lisa was back with her best fake smile and helping her pack up. She then leads Ella back outside to find Lisa, now alone thank God, leaning against the wall separating her's and Chaeyoung's doors. Lisa smiled as Ella went to hug her, Chaeyoung looking anywhere but at Lisa. As Lisa got Ella back inside her own apartment Chaeyoung turned to go back to her's. Lisa then placed her hand on the door. "Chae, I'm really-"

"Lisa you have a life outside of me and I know that," Chaeyoung said curtly, holding on to the door handle with a tight grip. "Why should your hookups bother me?"

"I don't even know him. I don't-" Lisa sighed, placing her hands on her forehead - something Chaeyoung knows she only does when she's feeling guilty but Chaeyoung didn't want to be pitied. "I just thought that-"

"What?" Chaeyoung asked, hope flickering. Lisa looked up at her and it was only then that Chaeyoung realized how close they were and if she moved just a little... Lisa opened her mouth to respond before a tinier whirl of dark hair came outside, pulling Lisa in to show her something. 

"Goodnight Lisa." Chaeyoung smiles, closing her door as Lisa opens her mouth to speak again. Chaeyoung sighed, knocking her head against the wood as she slid down the door, eyes screwed shut.

Chaeyoung then began to crawl back into her bed and desperately tried to get comfortable. She tossed slightly before coming to the conclusion it was going to be a sleepless night. She tried not to listen but heard Lisa talking to her step-dad as he picked up Ella. She sighed feeling bad for leaving the little girl with an unanswered question of why she didn't come over to read to her or eat dessert with her and Lisa.

Chaeyoung shut her eyes but her mind lingered back to the image of Lisa kissing that guy and how much she wished it was her. She imagined how soft Lisa's lips were and how her hands were gripped tightly in his shirt. 

She had seen her mix before and damn could she do wonders with those fingers... she couldn't help but wonder what other things those talented fingers could do. This time Chaeyoung didn't stop her thoughts. She imagined Lisa running her hands through the Chaeyoung's hair and her tracing her fingers over Lisa's abs and feeling Lisa under her hands.

Chaeyoung didn't stop her thoughts as her hand slipped under her shorts and she exhaled deeply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to leave Kudos/Comments if you liked it! <3


	5. Walls Could Talk (Part 3) [M]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last part of this mini-story :(

End of the term came and the summer holidays did too. Chaeyoung was going to be teaching the year 10's and 11's English next year and although she'd miss the liberty of teaching prep school years she was excited at the new experience to come plus her and Jennie's breaks were now aligned as she was teaching the Sixth Form Physics set; what Jennie called her 'teaching dream come to life'.

Chaeyoung was coming back from lunch with Jennie and Irene (her friend from University) when she encountered Lisa fumbling for her keys, Ella running around her feet and Lisa holding several heavy shopping bags. Chaeyoung pushed her sunglasses up to rest on her forehead as she approached the girl, they hadn't spoken for the past week or two due to the previous incident, feeling a little awkward.

"Hey." Chaeyoung smiled, outstretching her arm in a gesture to hold her bags. The younger girl looked up at her and smiled warmly, a rare thing for her to do recently.

"Thanks." She sighed, Chaeyoung taking the bags, and managed to get the door unlocked. "Ella!" She called to the young girl - who had run down the corridor, pigtails swinging - before turning back to Chaeyoung.

"I'll help you unpack if you like?" Chaeyoung offered, heaving the bags in. Lisa smiled and nodded gratefully. "I know we haven't talked in a while... and I just wanted to say I'm sorry about how I overreacted, you have a personal life and it's no concern of mine." 

Lisa opened her mouth but Chaeyoung stopped her by placing a hand on her forearm, ignoring the way Lisa tensed before relaxing under her touch and how it made her stomach flip. "I'm sorry I've been avoiding you."

"Avoiding me?" Lisa smirked, placing the carrots she bought in the fridge. "Considering when I waved at you a few days ago you literally squeaked and ran into the elevator - that was going up and you were meant to be going down - away from me, avoiding is an understatement." Lisa chuckled and Chaeyoung felt her cheeks heating up. 

"But, in all seriousness, Chae, I'm really sorry about that night. I don't even know what I was doing, what I was thinking. I met the guy on my way home and I was just so pissed off - and pissed in general - and next thing I knew... maybe it's because-"

"Chaeyoung!" Ella's bright voice interrupted whatever Lisa was about to confess, the young girl wrapped her arms around Chaeyoung's legs.

"Hey, sweetie!" She smiled, kneeling down to hug her.

"Hey, Pokpak, why don't you go wash your hands so you can help me make lunch?" Lisa asked as the young girl skipped off.

"I'm going to go back-" Chaeyoung started but Lisa's voice overlapped hers.

"Maybe we can go back to doing Thursday and Saturday nights?" She asked, voice hopeful. Chaeyoung brightened visibly and nodded.

"I'd love that." She replied, offering a bashful smile as she swayed on the balls of her feet.

"See you then."

Thursday night could not come faster for Chaeyoung and when it did it flowed so fluidly and naturally, as if there was no lost time. The two talked it through briefly, all forgiven, before returning to their routine on those nights.

But when Saturday morning came Chaeyoung, reluctantly, texted Lisa to cancel. Lisa didn't question it and said it was fine. Jennie had begged Chaeyoung to go clubbing with her, Wendy and Irene as the two could _finally_ drink freely without worries of showing up hungover to impressionable primary school students. 

So Chaeyoung agreed, admittedly excited to go out with her friends, and was finishing doing her hair when Jennie said they were 15 minutes away. Chaeyoung quickly finished with her hair before looking over her attire and nodding quickly at her appearance in approval. She got another notification as she slipped on her heels and grabbed her clutch, walking out the door. 

As Chaeyoung locked her door she smiled at Jennie's impatient notifications and remarks about "how smashed we're going to get". She arrived downstairs and approached the door, texting Jennie.

"Chae?" Chaeyoung turned her head to see Lisa, who had just come back from somewhere, she began to lean back against a wall and trailed her eyes up and down Chaeyoung's figure.

"Hey." Chaeyoung smiled. "My friends are dragging me out clubbing because we finally don't have to worry about impressionable children." She chuckled awkwardly and Lisa smirked, continuing to stare at the girl. "What? Did I muck up my makeup? Is there a tear in-"

"No, no," Lisa interjected, waving her hands erratically. "You - uh - you look good. You look really good." She mumbled awkwardly, Chaeyoung flushing red and hating it. Chaeyoung felt herself bite her lip as Lisa smiled at her.

"Thank you." She said with a small smile. She was about to say something when she got a blast of texts from Jennie demanding she 'get her ass outside'. "S-sorry, I have to uh..."

"Have fun, Chae." Lisa laughed and Chaeyoung gave her another quick smile before walking out.

"Have a good night Lisa!"

"You too, Park."

Chaeyoung slid into the passenger's seat of Jennie's car, greeting Irene and Wendy in the back seat.

"Who was that?" Wendy asked.

"My neighbor, Lisa," Chaeyoung answered.

"She's hot," Jennie commented, licking her lips and Chaeyoung couldn't help the eye roll. _Trust me, I know. Chaeyoung thought._

"How do you keep your hands off of that, Chaeng!" Wendy smirked and Jennie laughed in agreement, Chaeyoung shrugged.

_It's almost impossible._

They got to the club quickly and as Chaeyoung walked in the music overwhelmed her ears. She couldn't help but think what Lisa would say about it. She would probably mutter something about 'God awful taste in music' and that thought itself had Chaeyoung smiling in fondness. She must've been looking in this guy's direction when she smiled so as she leaned against the bar this guy walked over. 

Normally Chaeyoung was always up for a good time with friends, she's the kind of girl you could go shot for shot with but tonight it just didn't interest her. She didn't understand why because normally she'd be making a fool of herself and dancing her stress away with Jennie and finding herself drunkenly kissing someone whose name she wouldn't remember the next day. 

Chaeyoung has two very contrasting sides but for some reason, her 'fun side' just didn't feel like making an appearance. Everything felt strange and she didn't even know what the guy in front of her was saying at this point as she nodded mindlessly.

She couldn't help but wish this guy was Lisa, she wanted to be here with Lisa, to dance her mind away with Lisa (though she knew the younger girl would put her to shame with her ridiculously incredible dance moves), to laugh about God knows what with Lisa. 

And Chaeyoung hated that she let herself fall for her - her _neighbor_. She needed to get her mind off of her so before she knew it she had this guy by the collar of his shirt and was kissing him mindlessly.

 _Lisa. Lisa. Lisa._ Her mind blared and she tightened her grip on him, his hands gripping her hips.

And she felt so foolish because when she pulled off of him - feeling gross and clammy - she opened her eyes and so badly wanted it to be Lisa. Chaeyoung felt clouded by the taste of some cheap liquor on his mouth, mingled with the beer she drank earlier, and was overwhelmed with the smell that wasn't at all anything similar to the comforting smell of Lisa's shampoo or the smell of strawberries on Lisa's breath on the Sunday morning's she'd spend in Lisa's apartment. Chaeyoung found herself muttering an incoherent apology to the guy and finding Irene to tell her she's going home.

The tube was empty aside from this one mother holding her sleeping child and Chaeyoung knocked her ankles together mindlessly to help stop the protruding thoughts of Lisa that filled her mind. 

Why did she have to fall for her neighbor?

Stupid Lisa and her stupid sense of humor, her stupid amount of talent she is far too modest about, the stupid way she behaves around Ella that's all warm and kind and her stupid beautiful laugh and singing voice and just Lisa.

_Stupid. Stupid. Stupid._

Chaeyoung reached her apartment in a haze that was definitely not alcohol induced as she barely finished her one beer. She opened her door and found herself quick to exchange her clothes for underwear and a t-shirt before collapsing on her bed.

"You're back early." Came Lisa's muffled voice and Chaeyoung could just see her smirking. "You have someone over with you?" She asked, voice sounding a little rigid.

"Nope." Chaeyoung huffed, sitting up and placing her forehead on the wall, tracing patterns with her fingers on the white concrete. "Normally I love going out, getting pissed and being with my friends but... tonight I wasn't feeling it." She sighed and she heard Lisa hum in understanding.

"Mind overflowing with thoughts?" She asked. Chaeyoung scoffed in reply and nodded. "I'm assuming you just nodded. And I get that too. Some nights when I'm dancing in clubs I'm just not feeling up to it." There was a pause as Chaeyoung sighed.

"My brain feels overcrowded."

"You and me both. I have one thought that just keeps racing through my head." Lisa replied voice soft and Chaeyoung knew she was right next to the wall. Parallel to her.

"Same here." Chaeyoung so badly wanted to say 'you' but stopped herself. There was a pause as Chaeyoung looked at the wall, trying to envision what Lisa looked like right now on the other side. "Can you - uh -"

"You want me to come over?" Chaeyoung let out a sigh of relief and smiled.

"You don't have to-"

"No, I want to." Was Lisa's quick reply.

In a matter of seconds, there were two knocks at Chaeyoung's door. She opened it to find Lisa in her flannel and boy shorts, smiling at her gently. Chaeyoung smiled back, suddenly feeling her haze melt away.

"Hey, gorgeous." Lisa smiles as Chaeyoung lets her in. The two, without words, go to sit on Chaeyoung's bed, Lisa leading Chaeyoung by her hand.

"Can I tell you-"

"I need to tell you something," Lisa interjects and Chaeyoung looks at her to continue. "Sorry, I just need to say something before I fuck anything up. Chae - God I'm not good at this -"

"Lisa, what's wrong?" Chaeyoung asked, placing a gentle hand on Lisa's thigh. And maybe it was the gentleness of her voice that Lisa wanted to drown in or how her eyes were so deep and warm or the feeling of her hand and how she wishes it would just drift up...

Chaeyoung didn't know what she was doing but she leaned forward and pressed her lips to Lisa's. Her hand was in Lisa's shirt, bunched up tightly and she felt herself stop breathing. She kissed her with eagerness and with everything she could before her mind registered what was going on.

Chaeyoung drew back and placed a finger on her lip. "Lis, I'm so sorry I don't-" Before she could finish her rambling Lisa had leaned forward to kiss Chaeyoung, one hand on Chaeyoung's neck and the other grasping Chaeyoung's t-shirt tight in her fist. 

Chaeyoung kissed back after the shock passed, hands traveling to Lisa's hair, fingers weaving in between her chocolate brown locks and holding her close. She felt as if she was floating as she felt Lisa bite down on her lip, eliciting a soft moan from Chaeyoung. 

Lisa slowly pulled off, the taller girl whimpering slightly. Lisa smirked before kissing down her neck, nipping at her pulse point, her stomach erupting in butterflies as Chaeyoung let out breathy moans.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted this," Lisa mumbled through kisses.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted you." Chaeyoung sighed.

"You have me now, no need to want anymore Chae."

Chaeyoung felt a spark of confidence, reaching for the younger girl's waist, toying with the hem of her shirt. Before they knew it Chaeyoung was lowering Lisa down on to her bed. The younger girl hit the bed and looked up at Chaeyoung her brown eyes now darker. Chaeyoung then hovered on top of her, kissing her hard, her arms on either side of the younger girl. Chaeyoung began to move off her lips, making Lisa whimper as she did earlier, kissing the side of her mouth and down her jawline. 

Chaeyoung could hear the sounds of Lisa's ragged breaths, making goosebumps travel down her spine and smirking against her neck. Lisa's fingers falling in Chaeyoung's hair as the older girl left a mark on her neck, claiming her as her own. "Chae..." Lisa groaned.

"Never pegged you as a bottom, Manoban."

"Shut up, Park," Lisa mumbled before letting out another moan as Chaeyoung nipped at her earlobe. Lisa's flannel was unbuttoned by Chaeyoung's trembling fingers quickly before Chaeyoung pushed Lisa back down, straddling her hips and grinding down on her as Lisa fumbled with the hem of Chaeyoung's top. 

When Lisa finally got Chaeyoung's shirt off Chaeyoung ran her hands down Lisa's chest, fingers lingering on her abs and placing kisses further down her stomach to the hem of her underwear.

"God, you're hot." Chaeyoung found herself mumbling as she admired the heaving girl underneath her, peppering kisses to Lisa's thighs.

"Like you should-" Lisa was cut off with a sharp intake of breath and a low moan as Chaeyoung's fingers slipped into her underwear. "Chae." She mumbles as Chaeyoung's fingers slip inside of her. Lisa's breaths are ragged as Chaeyoung finally pulls her underwear down, her hands going to Chaeyoung's hands as the girl touches her in the right places as if she's done this million of times. Lisa would never be this needy with anyone else but Chaeyoung just managed to change everything about her and so quickly.

Short mutters of "right there", and "don't stop, please", and "Chae" only fueled Chaeyoung and Lisa's moans grew more frequent. And Chaeyoung is just completely in love with Lisa like this. And when Lisa returned the favor Chaeyoung realized just how much those talented fingers could do and her mouth could do a lot more than just sing and rant; the result of Chaeyoung screaming Lisa's name made her momentarily forget how thin the walls are.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

The sun was peeking through the curtains as Chaeyoung began to trace patterns on Lisa's back, the younger girl not stirring, cuddled close to her warmth under the mess of blankets. Chaeyoung sunk into her embrace as Lisa looped an arm around her bare waist, burying her face into the crook of her neck. 

The brown-eyed girl smiled her warm, glowing smile as she held Lisa close to her, dancing her fingers up and down her back, memorizing the feeling of her skin underneath her fingers. Lisa sleepily blinked her eyes open, her own dark brown eyes lighting up as they found Chaeyoung's warm, brown eyes.

"Morning sleepy head," Chaeyoung mumbled, pressing a chaste kiss to the other girl's lips. Lisa smiled a groggy smile that made Chaeyoung's heart flutter.

"Mmm," Lisa grunted, resting her cheek on the crook between Chaeyoung's neck and shoulder. Lisa's fingers traced patterns on Chaeyoung's toned stomach, tangling their legs together under the duvet. Chaeyoung placed light kisses on Lisa's hair. She then began to kiss the freckles that dotted Lisa's jawline, also admiring the marks she left on the younger girl's sun-kissed skin. 

Lisa trailed her finger's down the ridges of Chaeyoung's spine as the other girl slumped on top of her, her breath catching as Lisa's fingers circled the small of her back, skin smooth and touch delicate. Chaeyoung's hands traveled upwards to play with loose strands of Lisa's hair gently, Lisa leaning forward and placing a kiss on Chaeyoung's shoulder, her fingers outlining the soft on her lower back as if she'd done it millions of times before.

It came so naturally to the two and flowed so easily and effortlessly, it was almost as if they were meant to have ended up together as the universe had planned it.

"Please tell me it's still Sunday," Lisa grumbled and Chaeyoung laughed, nodding her head. "Good, I can spend the day with you today." Chaeyoung felt her heart skipping as Lisa smiled into Chaeyoung's shoulder. 

The two lay in silence, soaking up the moment before Chaeyoung raised her head to look at Lisa, Chaeyoung still lying practically on top of her. "Chae..."

"Yes, Lis," Chaeyoung replied, her hand trailing up to fix the messy bangs on Lisa's forehead, her touch so soft and gentle it's as if her fingers are light as air.

"I heard you..." Lisa mumbled, biting her lip. "That night when you saw me... and I heard you uh... yeah..." Chaeyoung felt the blood rushing to her cheeks.

"You were listening?" She asked, raising an eyebrow as Lisa began to blush.

"Well... I... uh..."

"Lalisa Pranpriya Manoban!"

"Ooh, full names, how kinky." Lisa teased.

"Shut up." Chaeyoung drawled, leaning forward to kiss Lisa firmly.

"I can't believe you listened, you and your dirty habits," Chaeyoung smirked against Lisa's lips. The younger girl pulled away and narrowed her eyes.

"You were the one doing it you minx!" Lisa scowled, Chaeyoung giggling and setting her head back against the pillow. "Plus, as we have discovered over the year, we have the thinnest fucking walls!" Lisa defended, her hands running up and down Chaeyoung's sides.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"...Wanted to see if you'd do it again." Lisa mumbled bashfully and Chaeyoung looked at her in horrified shock.

"Lisa!" She squealed, hitting the girl's arm.

"You were the one who said my name when you... uh... finished... See, this is why I try to be quiet when I... you know." Lisa retorted at which Chaeyoung mumbled something about the thin walls. 

"Hey, don't blame the walls. They're the reason we met. So we should thank them." She stated.

"Never thought I'd say how thankful I was to have thin walls." Chaeyoung giggled and Lisa smiled, switching their positions while sitting up to straddle Chaeyoung's waist with Chaeyoung following. 

The two now sat with Lisa in Chaeyoung's lap, legs curled around her waist, the two now being more eye level. "Hmm." Chaeyoung hummed fondly as she cupped Lisa's face, Lisa leaning into Chaeyoung's hand.

"I'm glad you're no longer Ella's teacher." Lisa sighed and Chaeyoung looked slightly offended. "Not that you're bad, God no!"

"You're lucky you're hot or I would've shoved you off the bed by now," Chaeyoung mumbled.

"You would never do that," Lisa smirked, resting her forehead on Chaeyoung's. "What I was going to say is that if you still were it would've made parent-teacher meetings very awkward." She finished, kissing Chaeyoung once again.

"Mmm, very awkward indeed," Chaeyoung mumbled, smiling against Lisa's lips.

"Because whilst you talk about Ella all I would be able to focus on is how good you look in that skirt. God Chae, your waist should be illegal." Chaeyoung giggled and stroked the pads of her thumbs gently along Lisa's cheekbones.

"I wouldn't be telling you much about her as I wouldn't be able to focus on anything but you." Chaeyoung teased before pausing slightly. "What does this make us?" She asked, voice tentative as if trying not to walk on pieces of broken glass.

"What do you want us to be?" Lisa asked, eyes deep and trusting. "Because I know that I want to wake up with you, like this, as often as possible. And I want to be able to kiss you on Thursday nights without having to play it off as platonic. And I want nothing more to be able to call you my girlfriend."

"And I would never want anything else besides being able to say that you're my girlfriend too." Chaeyoung smiled warmly, heart beating in her ears. Lisa smiled, looping her arms around Chaeyoung's waist and bringing her in for a searing kiss.

"No more walls, just me and you." She whispered.

"Promise?"

"On these thin walls, I promise."


	6. Tutorial: Low-Key PDA feat. Chaelisa

It’s actually impressive that their relationship goes under the radar for so long, especially considering how nosy their unnies are and how openly affectionate Lisa is. But with someone like Chaeyoung involved, PDA isn’t a big factor between them and most of their touches go unnoticed.

Even the not-so-discreet touches behind thin walls that have Lisa moaning Rosé’s name.

Mostly because Chaeyoung usually manages to clap her hand over Lisa’s mouth before she gets too loud.

Usually.

It’s been almost three months and none of their unnies have caught wind that they’re together. And while neither of them has qualms about coming clean and announcing their relationship, Chaeyoung’s more of a let-them-assume-whatever kind of person and Lisa’s just an I’m-just-happy-to-have-you kind of person, so they never get around to clarifying their status.

They both secretly like keeping everything on the down low. Less intrusive questions. Less eye-rolling. Less sexual innuendos from Jennie.

And somehow…kind of sexy.

Because when Chaeyoung squeezes her knee under the table at dinner or trails a finger across her bare shoulder blades at practice, Lisa just looks like an idiot, flinching and gasping suddenly while everyone turns to her in concern. And Chaeyoung is _such_ a little shit that she can easily put on a mask of fake concern to match the others’, so the older members are none the wiser.

Chaeyoung’s touches are hard to distinguish because they’re hidden in plain sight, and that’s what _Lisa_ thinks makes Chaeyoung so sneaky.

And it drives Lisa _crazy_.

One minute, she’d be casually leaning her head on Lisa’s shoulder while the unnies watched a movie, and the next, she would be pressing silent kisses on the maknae’s neck, turning quickly away when any of the other girls shifted in their seats. Or she’d be hugging Lisa from behind during practice like she does with all the older members and suddenly she would slip a hand up Lisa’s shirt as soon as everyone’s eyes are focused on their choreographer.

Compared to her, Lisa is a cuddly teddy bear. Her infectious hugs are a staple of BLACKPINK gatherings, and no one questions why she’s so attached to Chaeyoung because the maknae always had _someone_ — whether it be Jisoo and her own brand of hugs or Jennie with her shameless teasing — on her back; there was just something about her cute and adorable attitude that attracted the opposite type of people.

Lisa’s touches are quick, playful, and almost deliberately devoid of innocence.

Because even though she would adamantly deny it when asked, Lalisa Manoban is a goddamn tease.

Maybe it’s because of the hype they get from their Blinks whenever they're being lovey-dovey, or maybe it’s because Lisa is so absolutely pure and adorable; Lisa doesn’t really know why she gets a surge of confidence when it comes to flustering her girlfriend. There’s just something satisfying about her spluttering excuses and Rosé matching the color of her cheeks to her own name and the half-hearted glares shot in Lisa’s direction, and it’s not like Chaeyoung makes it any easier to keep her paws off. Her tight leggings and revealing crop tops are practically _begging_ for physical attention.

And of course, Chaeyoung notices her girlfriend's hungry eyes on her body and if Chaeyoung didn’t have dignity and pride as the girl she was, she would’ve dragged Lisa to the nearest bathroom or closet and taught this maknae a freaking _lesson_.

Not that she’s never in the position to teach Lisa any lessons.

Because as soon as the door closes behind them and they’re alone in the own world, the intense side of Chaeyoung emerges and practically swallows Lisa whole.

This girl is the origin of the “lady in the streets, freak in the sheets” phrase and Lisa sometimes can’t handle the abrupt shift in her demeanor. Her touches become rough, she uses a _lot_ more teeth than Lisa could ever expect, and more often than not, she goes straight in for the kill. No build-up, no foreplay, just…straight-up lust and hunger and _need_ that leaves both of them shaking afterward.

On the other hand, Lisa is a little shit too and teases Chaeyoung even when things are hot and heavy, which the older girl does _not_ appreciate but can’t get enough of. For someone with such a short temper, Lisa has infinite amounts of patience when it comes to giving Chaeyoung what she wants, only relenting when the older girl is desperately begging for release.

Maybe because they’re keeping up such a long streak of going undiscovered, but they can’t get enough of each other when they’re alone together. The secrecy from the others, the risk of being discovered, and the thrill of doing everything (and anything) undercover gives their relationship a fleeting, dangerous feel.

And they just might’ve gotten through the rest of their career (well, probably not) had a certain Chanel-Lover had more boundaries when it came to knocking on people’s doors before barging in.

“Hey hubby, do you ha-aaaoooh my _jisoos_ -fricken god my eyes! ”


	7. Rock Bottom

"Lisa, please, don't do this." Chaeyoung sighed, running a hand through her hair, causing it to stick up. Usually, Lisa would've smiled fondly at her, finding her absolutely adorable. Normally she would be laughing a little before running a gentle hand through the older girl's hair. However, right now was not a place for that. Instead, Lisa stormed off, shoving her hands in her pockets and trying to conceal her scowl.

"What?" Lisa asked, turning around and fixing Chaeyoung with her best glare. "Do what, Chaeng?" She tilted her head and folded her arms tightly. "I can't look at you, apparently, hooking up with Jimin and not get pissed off?" She growled.

"Lisa! I'm not hooking up with him!" Chaeyoung snapped - and seeing Chaeyoung snap made Lisa flinch as she is known to be the most patient person on earth. "For god's sake! Not every single person I glance at is someone I have a crush on!"

"That kiss at the Seoul Music Awards's said otherwise." Lisa snapped back. "And the fact that he kissed you just now and you seemed to make no move to pull away at all! Christ, Chae. You're clearly just using me to get over your feelings for him when he went out with Jungkook." Lisa felt the tears stinging at her eyes as she gripped her hair and sighed.

"Lisa, baby, I promise I never thought of you like that." Chaeyoung attempted, trying to reach forward and hold her. "Lisa, please. I tried to pull away I swear!"

"No, Chae!" Lisa snarled, lashing away. "You fucking kissed him and you're telling me you don't have feelings for him? You told me that you never had feelings for him, then why the hell did you kiss him at the awards? And why the hell did you not pull away just now!" Lisa was fuming, her words sharp like a knife.

"I swear you don't trust me, do you?" Chaeyoung fought back, her words trying to drown out the sobs rising in her throat. "You've never trusted me. You don't even believe me, Lisa."

"I believed you till I saw whatever that was!" Lisa yelled. "What are we even doing here? We've been dating for how long and we still haven't told anyone and I swear to God if it was Jimin you were dating instead of me you would be wearing him on your arm 24/7. You'd never be embarrassed by him like you are of me." Lisa snapped. Chaeyoung felt the dam break; Lisa knew goddamn why she didn't want to say anything. Lisa felt a slight pang of guilt but made no move to take back her sharp words. Chaeyoung fell silent, her mind focused on trying to hold back her tears.

"I'm not a toy you can just pick up and use when you like Chaeyoung." Chaeyoung still sat, wordless. "I'm not some experiment for you to figure out whatever shit fest you have going on with Jimin. I don't care what you say but I'm done with... whatever this is, alright?" Chaeyoung sat, fists balled up as Lisa began to walk away. "I'm done."

"Heard you the first fucking time." Chaeyoung snapped back, her voice shaky from trying to conceal her crying. Lisa felt the constant hit of guilt on the back of her head; it hurt like someone hitting her repeatedly with a frying pan but she didn't turn; she kept walking and it stung like a bitch. Hurting Chaeyoung stung like a bitch. But she's just too damn stubborn to do what she wants most: to turn around and sprint back to her, tackle her in a hug and hold her and tell her she's sorry and that... that she loves her.

Chaeyoung didn't come back to the dorm that night. Lisa would never admit it but she grew worried about the tall blonde's whereabouts. Jennie made sure to call her and Lisa found herself biting her nails and feeling the hit of guilt at the back of her head, she felt like an asshole for ever hurting Chaeyoung. Lisa, somehow, found herself standing in the doorway of the living room - aka where Jennie was on the phone with Jisoo asking if she and Chaeyoung were okay. And then Lisa found herself face to face with Jennie post-phone call and when she was pulling on a jacket.

"Where's Rosie?" She asked, her voice trying to find balance and not reveal how she was feeling but her eyes gave it away from their pleading nature.

"Jisoo took her to her parent's place, don't worry." Jennie then picked up her phone and placed it in her pocket. "I'm going to see them now just to make sure Rosie's okay," Lisa opened her mouth, "and no you can't come. She doesn't want to see you."

"She doesn't want to see me." Lisa sighed, feeling so irritated at herself, as Jennie walked away. "I wouldn't..." She then began to trail off before gathering herself. "She's the one who used me, why the fuck should I be hung up?" Lisa defended, talking to herself in the empty room. But she knew, deep inside, that her fragile defending statements didn't seem as true as they did earlier.

Lisa felt pissed - but this time at herself. Lisa knew she had to say sorry but she was too damn stubborn to admit she was in the wrong and especially as she had the imprinted image of Chaeyoung kissing Jimin in her mind that also forbade her from marching herself to the house of Jisoo's parents and apologizing to Chaeyoung.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

It had been several days since the occurrence and Chaeyoung remained at Jisoo's place, refusing to come back to their dorm and even saying she felt ill and not going to rehearsals. Jisoo had immediately gone to see her with Jennie and reported Chaeyoung had been throwing up and refused to get out of bed. Lisa felt the guilt but the stubbornness weighed her down and the thought that Chaeyoung didn't love her and was just using her accompanied the weighted feeling.

The eldest members noticed Lisa's shift in attitude immediately; perks of knowing the maknae for almost 8 years now. They noticed how each day her eyes were puffy and her cheeks stained and red, an obvious sign of how many hours she had spent crying. Yet they didn't know why, they didn't know about her and Chaeyoung, and every time they attempted to reach out Lisa would push everyone away.

The clothes she wore reflected how she felt: falling apart and clinging on by loose threads. Her choice in wardrobe consisted of old tattered T-shirts and old worn skinny jeans, the occasional flannel thrown over her shoulders. What they noticed was her seemingly favourite thing to wear over the days that passed was a black t-shirt with the word 'Gang' printed on the back, that draped down to mid-thigh on her; she always seemed to snuggle into the t-shirt she was practically drowning in and her eyes were always particularly puffy when she wore it, it's as if it triggered something within her but they couldn't pinpoint it. All they knew was something was wrong.

Lisa was sat at the kitchen island in the same black t-shirt and gym shorts, hunched over her laptop and giant headphones blocking herself out from the world as she was editing one of her infamous LiliFilms. 

"Lisa, are you sure you don't want to come?" Jennie asked her hand gently on the maknae's.

"I said I wanted the dorm to myself, what do you not get?" Lisa snarled, shoving off Jennie's hand. The elder members flinched at Lisa's tone and the ash-brown haired girl froze, looking up at Jennie's - though calm - hurt expression before sighing. "I - I'm so sorry, unnie." She buried her face in her hands to hide the tears slipping down her face. "I... there's no excuse for how I've been treating you all."

"It's okay, Limario," Jisoo reassured, knowing Lisa would prefer not to be touched at that moment. "We know you just need some alone time... but when you're ready I'm here." Jisoo glanced back at Jennie and nodded. "We're here."

"I know," Lisa mumbled, offering a head nod as she couldn't even muster a fake smile.

"We're going out though, we'll only be a little bit, just grabbing some chicken and stuff," Jennie explained, walking forward and placing a hand on Lisa's back.

"Whatever, I'll be fine," Lisa grunted and the girls nodded.

The girls cast one last pitiful look at the moping maknae before they filed out of the dorm. Jennie was turning to lock the door until she felt Jisoo tug her arm. Jennie turned to find Chaeyoung pacing outside the dorm in the hallway, arms hugging her stomach like a lifeline, her eyes red and raw and her cheeks flushed and puffy. She looked the complete opposite of her normal sunshine self and all the older girls felt a wash of understanding overcame them. Chaeyoung's hair was a windswept mess, thrown into a messy ponytail, and she was dressed in a black t-shirt with the word 'Girl' written on it - Lisa's oversized shirt they knew didn't belong to her now making sense - and wearing black gym shorts, loose threads hanging from them and a small tear across the bottom. Chaeyoung was chewing her trembling bottom lip and pacing violently before her head snapped in the direction of her unnies.

"Oh... h-hey guys," She started, her voice so fragile and shaky in an attempt to fight back threatening tears. "I was... I-"

Chaeyoung was promptly cut off by Jennie engulfing her into a hug, Jisoo followed suit and clung to her protectively. The younger girl then broke and let the tears pill, sobbing into Jisoo's shoulder and Jennie's hair, her breaths shaky and her inhaling behaved more like desperate gasps for air instead of trying to regulate her breathing pattern.

"Talk to her," Jennie whispered as Chaeyoung pulled away. "She's a mess without you, Rosie."

"She hasn't showered in days though." Jisoo piped up unhelpfully. "I swear she ate a box of tic tacs and said 'there, I brushed my teeth' just yesterday," Jisoo added. "So don't go too near-"

"Jisoo!" Jennie interrupted. "We'll insult Lisa later... All we're saying is she needs you, Chaeng."

"Just go to her, Pasta." Jisoo insisted, Jennie nodding along almost ferociously.

"Talk some sense into her." Jennie finished.

They then saw how Chaeyoung's eyes lit up; it was refreshing as they hadn't seen that in weeks. It made them feel hopeful things would work out as they watched Chaeyoung step inside the dorm, venturing quietly into the kitchen where Lisa would be sat, oblivious.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Lisa didn't move from her hunched position when she heard the door open again; she assumed someone had forgotten their purse or phone. Lisa only looked up when she saw a figure enter the kitchen. She didn't tear her eyes away from her laptop but grew frustrated that no one would get the hint.

"What?" She snapped.

"You're an asshole." Lisa knew it was her, her voice.

"Leave me alone and go back -"

"No Lisa!" Chaeyoung interrupted, her face fuming with rage. It was then that Lisa looked up to find those damn big brown doe eyes looking intensely at her. Instead, she noticed her eyes were bloodshot, her messy hair and the hurt in her eyes and face. "You don't get to talk right now, I had enough of that a few days ago." 

Lisa noticed how Chaeyoung was shaking and tears began to run freely down her face, noticing Chaeyoung was on the verge of breaking completely. Lisa wanted nothing more than to leap up and hold her tight, to kiss her and tell her it was all going to be alright. "J-just shut up and listen to me for once."

"Okay..." Lisa breathed out, knowing she didn't want to break the older girl further. She wanted to look away as she felt her own heart breaking at the sight of Chaeyoung - her Rosie - so broken and upset and how it was all her fault. Yet as she looked at the girl with red eyes and bright red cheeks, messy hair in desperate need of a comb's assistance, ratty old clothes and an exhausted despaired expression Lisa couldn't help but see how beautiful and perfect she looked despite her inner turmoil.

"I've been crying over what you said to me. I've been feeling guilty at something you accused me of doing that I didn't. I was crying over a girl that doesn't even believe me."

"If you came here just to tear me a new one-"

"SHUT UP, LISA!" Chaeyoung screamed before regaining herself and breathing in deeply. "I was feeling lonely because I felt lonely without you. I felt guilty because I thought I was hurting you which is honestly so much more important to me than how angry I am at you for misreading a bloody situation-"

"Chaeng, I'm not here for you to use," Lisa spoke, standing up and folding her arms. "I'm not some way for you to figure out your sexuality or any bull shit-"

"Why can't you just ever open your eyes! You need to open them and-"

"What? I can open them and see that you're still pining over Jimin and using me as a way to make him jealous?"

"Why can't you just see that I love you! Jimin means nothing to me! He's my friend that inconveniently shares the same last name!" Chaeyoung yelled, her voice louder than Lisa's rising one. "You won't let anyone care about you ever, huh?" Chaeyoung cried. "Can't you just see-"

"No!" Lisa retorted. "You don't love me, you can't love me! I'm too fucked up and broken for you to love, please don't you ever say that. You loving me will fuck you up and I can't possibly ruin you. I just can't ruin you because I love you! I ruin everyone and I don't ever want to fuck you up-" Lisa stopped mid-rant as she realizing Chaeyoung was coming towards her.

Lisa shut her eyes expecting to be yelled at again or Chaeyoung to even slap her but instead, she felt infuriatingly gentle and soft hands cup her face and smash their lips together in a searing kiss. It was all clashing teeth and tongue, Lisa whimpering under Chaeyoung's hold, reaching a hand up to tangle in her hand, the other gripping the counter behind her in fear that she would open her eyes and everything drift away. Chaeyoung's hands rested on Lisa's neck; one on the back to pull the younger girl into deepened the kiss.

Chaeyoung's lips tasted salty from her tears, making Lisa's heart ache, but the taste of apple mints still lingered there. Chaeyoung still smelled of cherry blossoms and making Lisa feel at home in her delicate hold, glad to be overwhelmed with the smell she had grown so attached to inhaling every time she was pulled in for a hug on woke up the next morning to; the smell she had missed; the girl she had missed.

Chaeyoung eventually pulled away and rested her forehead on Lisa's.

"You're not fucked up," Chaeyoung whispered. "You're not broken. You're Lisa. And I love you, you and all your 'flaws' which are perfect to me." Lisa gently stroked Chaeyoung's face.

"I'm sorry Rosie." Lisa sighed, pushing her face into Chaeyoung's chest. "I should've never... I'm sorry." She whispered as Chaeyoung held her, just as she had longed for her to do. "Do you really mean it?" She asked, her voice a whisper.

"Mean what?"

"That you love me?"

"Of course I love you, Lisa." Chaeyoung paused. "Did you mean it?"

"You're perfect Roseanne Park," Lisa whispered fondly. "Who wouldn't love you?"

"Promise you trust me and won't leave me?" Chaeyoung asked, her voice so genuinely worried.

"Promise I'm not a distraction."

"I love you, I promise you, you never were and never will be," Chaeyoung promised.

"I promise you I'm not going anywhere... because I love you," Lisa replied.

Lisa then pushed herself up onto the counter before pulling Chaeyoung back in for a deep, long kiss. Tender and sweet unlike their previous one. It was to show their love physically instead of verbally because it just seemed so true instead of unspoken 'i love you's. They were so caught up in each other they almost didn't notice the audience of their unnies standing at entrance peering in at the two.

Almost.


	8. Shirt

There is no conceivable way 4 girls can live under the same roof and not lose track of whose clothes belong to who, especially considering the fact that they all had a similar style as well as almost the same size. When they first moved into the dorm, they'd tried scribbling their initials on clothing tags and pointing out different types of rips that could be used as distinguishing markers for similar shorts or sweaters, but by the end of their first month as housemates, they gave up all hope.

Now, any generic articles of clothing like blank T-shirts or their own merch belonged to everyone and were free for the taking from the laundry pile.

But not all the clothing in their occasional joint laundry load was for everyone to take.

Groaning with frustration, Lisa digs furiously through the enormous pile in the laundry closet, struggling to find 15-year-old T-shirt from her hometown that she still wore to dance rehearsals. It wasn't the coolest shirt, its logo faded like it'd been sanded down and the sleeves and collar ripping a bit from age, but the material was soft from countless wash cycles and she always felt comfortable and nostalgic when wearing it.

Except now it's gone because it'd ended up in the shared pile and Lisa just wants it back.

She reaches the bottom of the pile and starts sorting through each article of clothing again, eyes raking over every shirt that has the same, dark blue color. It'd be too desperate to message the girls or bring it up at practice, and she just knows they would never let her live it down if she threw a temper tantrum over an old and ratty T-shirt.

"Lisa! We're gonna be late to practice!"

Chaeyoung's voice floats through the dorm and Lisa scrunches up her nose at the thought of abandoning her search for timeliness. After spending so much time sifting through this mountain of crap, she doesn't want to give up and take a plain shirt in defeat.

She was the one driving with Chaeyoung to practice since their unnies took the first car and she didn't want to set a bad example by holding them up for a stupid shirt.

With a resigned huff, she grabs a Nike crop top and pulls it on, kicking the closet door as she does.

Chaeyoung's waiting at the elevator, texting someone — probably their driver — and leaning casually on the wall across from the dorm in the hallway. As usual, she's dressed like a professional athleisure model, with perfectly-fitted sweatpants, white running shoes, and a tied-up T-shirt exposing the Infamous Abs that especially the two older members had expressed jealousy over.

It's definitely an eye-catching sight but Lisa's far too embarrassed to stare and thereby exposing the years old crush she has on her best friend, so she barely spares a glance as she rushes over to the shoe closet for her sneakers...

...but does a hard double-take before she even opens the door.

"Wait. Is that my shirt?"

Chaeyoung frowns a little and looks down at what she's wearing. "Oh. Um, maybe? I took it from the laundry pile upstairs, so I don't actually know whose this is."

It's definitely Lisa's old shirt from Thailand that she just spent the better part of the past 20 minutes looking for. But it's being worn in such an unfamiliar way, the sleeves rolled up to resemble a muscle tee and the hemline bunched and tied with a hair scrunchie. It's a good look on Chaeyoung.

It actually looks...hot.

Like, really hot.

"Sorry, um. Should I not have taken it? Jennie said anything in the pile is fair game, but if you don't want me wearing it, I can change into something —"

"Uh. Uh, wait, no." Lisa stumbles frantically as Chaeyoung starts pulling at the shirt as if she's about to change right there in the hallway. "Y-uh. You can. Uh. Keep it. I mean, like. Wear it, for now. And I'll just get it back when you're...done with it."

She cringes at her own words.

"Are you sure?" Chaeyoung still looks uncertain. "I could grab something else if you want me to."

"No, you look..." Lisa forcibly chokes back the word that pops into mind. "...good. Fine. You look fine. N-not that you wouldn't in anything else." With a nervous laugh that does nothing to dispel the awkwardness, she grabs her sneakers and snatches her pouch from the hook. "Okay, good talk, let's go."

She leaves it up to Chaeyoung to close the door behind them, rushing down the driveway to their car to hide her burning cheeks.


	9. Jealous [M]

"Lisa?" The voice was unfamiliar to Chaeyoung, but by the look on Lisa's face, it was far from that. "Kookie," she said her voice filled with surprise and her eyes wide in shock. Kookie. Chaeyoung had heard the name before. 

Lisa and she had talked about their past relationships and Jeon Jungkook had been the only serious relationship Lisa had ever had. They had broken up more due to both of them going to two different music labels, not wanting to do the long distance thing. Jungkook pulled Lisa up and hugged her tightly, Lisa returning the hug. 

Chaeyoung could feel a jealousy surge through her. She normally wasn't a jealous person, but what was this guy doing here? And why hadn't Lisa mentioned how tall, hot, and dreamy he was? Chaeyoung began to feel a bit insecure about herself and her role with her girlfriend as the two broke apart. 

"What are you even doing here," Lisa asked her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. 

"Well I wanted to surprise you, but I'm transferring to YG." Lisa's eyes went wide again, unable to find words. Chaeyoung cleared her throat, causing both of them to gaze down at her, Lisa shaking her head realizing she hadn't introduced Chaeyoung.

"Oh my gosh. I'm such an idiot," Lisa said reaching her hand out for Chaeyoung beaming at her girlfriend and then back at Jungkook. "Kookie, this is Rosé, my girlfriend." Lisa laced their fingers together oblivious of the things running through Chaeyoung's head as she gave a small nod to him. Jungkook's face fell for a second, but he quickly caught himself holding his hand out for Chaeyoung. 

"Nice to meet you uh Roxy right?" Chaeyoung tensed next to Lisa and Lisa's expression fell slightly feeling the difference in the air. "Uh well it was nice seeing you Kookie, but um we were just going," Lisa said tightening her hold on Chaeyoung's hand as she gave him a weak smile. The pair walked to the elevator up to their dorm, neither of them speaking for the longest time.

"Babe," Lisa finally said tentatively her voice soft as she glanced over at Chaeyoung who's face was straight. Chaeyoung met her gaze, trying to hide how her blood was boiling currently. She was jealous and she was feeling super possessive over Lisa right now. She had never felt like this before, she was threatened by this guy. Hell if she was Lisa she would choose this guy. 

"Chaeng, are you mad at me," Lisa asked softly chewing on her lip as they entered the dorm her girlfriend still not saying a word. 

"No I'm not mad," Chaeyoung finally said taking in that their unnies weren't at the dorm currently, probably practicing for their debut. As realization sunk in her possessiveness side took over and she pushed Lisa up against the wall kissing her deeply. Lisa whimpered softly into the kiss, as Chaeyoung pushed her girlfriend's hands over her head.

Lisa was beyond thrown off on this side of her girlfriend. Whenever they had been intimate, Lisa had always taken charge and she liked it. It was like they reversed roles in the bedroom, but this...this was a dominance from Chaeyoung she had never seen before. But she liked it. Chaeyoung broke the kiss, her eyes filled with lust as she gazed up at her girlfriend. Lisa was a whimpering, whining mess needing more of Chaeyoung right there. Chaeyoung took her girlfriend's hand pulling her to Chaeyoung's room.

Chaeyoung lifted her girlfriend's shirt, tossing it on the ground. Lisa kicked off her shoes and went to remove her panties from underneath her skirt, but Chaeyoung pulled her hands away shaking her head. It was so simple, but the control that Chaeyoung was taking was so fucking sexy. Lisa bit her lip as Chaeyoung pulled down her panties, keeping Lisa's skirt on. 

"How bad do you want me, baby," Chaeyoung whispered nipping at Lisa's lip causing Lisa to moan softly. "Bad," Lisa breathed as Chaeyoung's fingers teased her slit feeling how turned on her girlfriend was. "This all for me," Chaeyoung asked needing to hear Lisa say it the jealousy causing her to need the reassurance from her girlfriend. Lisa nodded a small gasp escaping her lips. 

"All for you Chae. Only you," Lisa whimpered as Chaeyoung pulled her hand away causing a pout to form on Lisa 's lips. Chaeyoung leads Lisa over to the bed laying her down before moving to kneel next to Lisa on the bed. Lisa gazed down at her girlfriend her eyes filled with desire, almost vibrating with how needy she was for Chaeyoung at that moment. 

"Chaeng, please I need you," Lisa whispered to her squirming trying to get some sort of attention from her girlfriend. Chaeyoung takes two fingers, teasing Lisa's entrance before sliding them deep inside of her causing Lisa to cry out. "Oh my god Rosie," she cried out as Chaeyoung moved in to capture her girlfriend's lips beginning a fast pace thrusting her fingers deep before pulling them almost all the way out.

Lisa's moans filled the room as she broke the kiss, gripping the sheets Chaeyoung never being this rough. "Don't stop, please don't fuck don't stop," Lisa pleaded, feeling herself getting closer to her peak. 

Chaeyoung could sense it too and she began to increase her speed not letting. "Who makes you feel so good, baby? Who's the only one," Chaeyoung asked ghosting against her girlfriend's lips. Lisa moved her one hand to Chaeyoung's hair gripping as she felt her body reach its peak. 

"You. Only you," she cried out arching up as her orgasm hit her. Chaeyoung watched her girlfriend squirm as the pleasure washed over her. She had done that, Chaeyoung thought as she slipped her fingers from inside of her girlfriend. 

As Lisa began to calm down, a small smile on her lips as she tried to control her breathing she gazed over at Chaeyoung her eyes half-lidded. "Wanna tell me what brought that out of you," Lisa asked causing Chaeyoung to blush. Chaeyoung let her gaze shift, before mumbling to her girlfriend. 

"You know." Lisa took her girlfriend by the shirt pulling her in for a deep kiss. She pulled away slightly, their lips still inches away from each other. "I'm yours and that's all I want to be okay," Lisa said pulling Chaeyoung over so that her girlfriend was now straddling. 

"Let me show you how much I mean that," Lisa said planning on taking advantage of the empty dorm by making her girlfriend moan as loud as possible.


	10. Falling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Chaelisa Trainee AU <3

It really didn't matter that the esteemed Lalisa Manoban was a foreign trainee that could barely speak Korean and appeared to be a little closed off at first; within the first few seconds of meeting her in the elevator at her arrival at YG, Chaeyoung felt her heart inflate like a balloon in its deceptive way of telling her that she was doomed. Two sentences exchanged in a whisper at 5 AM on May 7th, 2012 and Chaeyoung fell head over heels for this aloof and standoffish ball of energy.

To be fair, she didn't consider it anything more than admiration at first.

"I mean she's just like, so cool, you know?" she tells her trainee roommate for the millionth time as they both grab lunch at the cafeteria. "There's just this...this energy around her at practice — when she's there — that kinda makes you feel like you can conquer the world if you do exactly as she says."

"Sounds kinky," her roommate mutters, and Chaeyoung flicks a french fry at her. "Hey!"

"It's not kinky, it's inspiring."

"Oh, inspiring. Sure, that's what it is."

Chaeyoung narrows her eyes. "And what's that supposed to mean?" she asks, immediately regretting her question when she sees the telltale teasing smirk on her roommate's face.

"It means that you wouldn't know you had a crush if this Lisa girl punched you in the face with it."

"What? A crush? That's...no. Wrong. Yeah, wrong. You're wrong. Absolutely ridiculous." 

She tries to laugh it off, but the seed is planted and now that's all she can think about.

It's stupid, really, how nerve-wracking practice is now that her roommate had opened her eyes to something that should've been sealed away for eternity. Every time they were given a task, such as creating a choreography in a short amount of time and Lisa gave instructions to the girls (since she's the best dancer in their trainee group) or so much as looked in Chaeyoung's direction, the heart palpitations and panic sweats erupt out of nowhere. 

"Might wanna hide that toner, Park," A trainee whispers loudly to her during one practice after Chaeyoung stutters out an embarrassing string of nonsense words to a simple question from Lisa.

"Wh-no! I don't have a..." but the trainee's already walking away and now Chaeyoung's hyper-aware of the sly smirks and subtle eyebrow wiggles the other trainees are shooting her way.

Yeah, okay, so maybe she does have a crush on her hot friend. But honestly, who can blame her? Lisa may be a still very shy sometimes but there're so many layers packed into that slim body that Chaeyoung is only beginning to get to know. Her playful humor counters her contagious aegyo and so on.

Chaeyoung notices the pattern in all of her past crushes in her 16 years of existence and how Lisa fits in seamlessly. Cute and funny? Check. Sympathetic and patient? Check. Acts like a big softie on both in- and outside but can turn into a hot dancing machine?

Big check.

Mmm, yup, she's totally doomed.

But nothing pushes her over the edge as much as when she saw Lisa dance for the first time.

When she hit all the marks precisely on time and swinging her body and limbs around with agility and grace that Chaeyoung would never have expected from this cutie-pie.

Lisa can work it. And Chaeyoung's pretty sure her heart does actual backflips watching her move her body so effortlessly.

It doesn't help that it's during their first full run-through of this set and Lisa's like, right in front of Chaeyoung, turning her hips like that and running her hands down her torso with so much uncharacteristic sensualness that Chaeyoung looks away sharply.

So sharply, in fact, that she steps off for the next move a beat too early and ends up tripping over her own foot, sending her stumbling onto the floor.

"Wait, guys, stop!"

"Whoa, shit."

"You alright, Park?"

Chaeyoung's cheeks are on fire as she scrambles to her feet and brushes the dirt from her hands. Everyone's looking at her and Chaeyoung fumbles for an excuse. "Y-yeah. Sorry. I...miscounted."

Which makes her sound a lot more inexperienced than she actually is. Chaeyoung knows this choreo like the back of her hand, had it practiced and memorized since last week, and could probably do it in her sleep. And she hates the understanding looks that the trainees give her like it makes sense for Chaeyoung to mess up since she's new to all of this.

But she'd rather be seen as an amateur trainee than a lovesick idiot.

"It's okay," The dance coach says reassuringly. "We'll take it from the top again."

As everyone shuffles back into their starting positions, the trainee who accused her of having a toner earlier bumps her arm against Chaeyoung. "Something on your mind, Park?" she teases. "Or...someone?"

Chaeyoung ignores her, rubbing furiously at her cheeks as if that would get rid of the blush. But then Lisa passes her with a quick smile and the blush returns with full force. Because Lalisa Manoban, the calm and composed girl with the I'm-too-cool-to-exercise vibe who Chaeyoung had always thought was too proud to show even the smallest hint up vulnerability, is panting and sweating like everyone else.

Lisa — the Thai girl with the most precise moves and well-defined abs — breathless.

Why does Chaeyoung find that so attractive?

She snaps to attention as the dancing coach starts counting off, looking determinedly away from Lisa throughout the entire dance. But she's soon to find out that a distracted Chaeyoung and intensive choreography don't mix well at all.

It goes fine for like, one run-through. But then they run it again. And again. And after a break, again. And it gets harder and harder each time for Chaeyoung to keep her eyes off of Lisa, which she thinks is totally unfair because she should be getting desensitized to something like this, not feeling more tempted to watch.

And for the next week, that temptation only grows with each practice and each run-through.

It's not like a sexual thing. Chaeyoung's hardly ever considered the sexual aspects of crushing on someone, but she knows if she told her roommate, she'd be wiggling her eyebrows at Chaeyoung and implying that "someone wants a lap dance," which is totally not true, Chaeyoung's pretty sure that receiving a lap dance from Lisa would be traumatizing for both parties involved.

So no, it's definitely not sexual attraction.

It's just...mesmerizing if she's being honest, watching an introverted tomboy like Lisa dancing around so comfortably. Chaeyoung's seen Lisa lead the other trainees with authority and confidence despite barely knowing the language, but this is something else entirely.

And her increasing clumsiness is more than enough proof. 

The practices leading up to the performance in front of the CEO are some of Chaeyoung's worst yet. The dance coach books them some rehearsal time in an auditorium on the far side of YG building to get a feel for their choreography and sound on stage. They sound great, they look great, and they feel great...except Chaeyoung keeps screwing up bits and pieces of choreo and lyrics here and there.

For the record, she only falls one more time. Sure, she might've almost fallen completely off the stage had some trainees not caught the back of her shirt, but it's just once. And there isn't a broken neck to show for it, so everyone wins.

It's enough for the coach to call for a break.

"Just... don't be nervous," is the dance coach's only advice to her. "It's not gonna be a huge crowd so there's no pressure."

"I'm not nervous," Chaeyoung mutters, which is true, she isn't nervous about performing, but it's also false because she's nervous about something else. Sighing and shaking her head at her own stupidity, Chaeyoung plops down on the choir risers towards the back of the stage, digging the heels of her palms into her temples as she watches the other trainees mill around the stage.

"Hey, is this seat taken?"

Lisa doesn't wait for Chaeyoung to respond before taking a seat next to her. "Uh." Chaeyoung looks down the length of the empty risers. "Huh. Guess everywhere else is full, huh?"

"Don't worry about stumbles like that," Lisa says in English, ignoring the observation. "You should've seen me when we were trying to learn our first intensive dance. It was a pretty hot mess."

Chaeyoung bites back the comment and thought that rises at 'hot.' The last thing she needs right now is a mental image of Lisa learning how to dance. "Yeah, no, I know. It's just...I'm... just a little distracted, I guess," she dares to admit.

"Mmm. Well. Hope it's not because of me," Lisa says, bumping her shoulder against Chaeyoung's and smirking easily. "I know it's like, super hard to avoid looking at me because I'm drop-dead gorgeous and everything."

She's just teasing she's just teasing she's just teasing. "Y-yeah. Because you're just...so distracting," Chaeyoung agrees, forcing a laugh and hoping to god that she actually sounds sarcastic.

Lisa seems to buy it because she hops to her feet with a chuckle, tossing her water onto her bag. "Don't go falling for me, Chong-ah," she says with a wink before wandering off to where the coach's explaining something to the others on the whiteboard, a slight spring in her step. 

"Well, you can't just say that and not expect me to," Chaeyoung grumbles, rubbing at her cheeks again as the coach calls an end to their break.


	11. Inked Rose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this REALLY long chapter makes up for the last month with no updates <333

"Please let me do your belly button? It'd be really sexy."

"For the last time, unnie. No."

Jennie pouts at her and Lisa shakes her head, turning back to her Spotify account on the shop's iPad. She's been trying to pick a playlist for like ten minutes, randomly clicking on songs to play in the meantime. They bump out of the speakers on the walls, specifically installed custom for Lee Chaerin.

Speaking of whom, the owner pops her head out of her office just off the main room. "Girl, will you pick a damn song? It's hard to jam when you keep changing it in the middle."

"Sorry," Lisa mutters, finally just settling on a playlist. She's not really feeling it, but whatever. She just works here.

"Okay, so I was thinking," Jennie says, settling on the corner of Lisa's table and whipping out a nail file. "You give me the Superman crest and have CL do the Batman logo on you."

Lisa bites back a small smile. "Are you ever going to let this go? Besides I prefer Marvel."

Ignoring her statement Jennie replied grinning. "Of course not, it's our five-year friendiversary. At our first year, we got our bugs, and this year we need to renew our friendship vows. I don't know what's so hard to grasp about this concept."

"We were drunk when we got those."

Jennie's mouth falls open. "Are you saying you regret our matching tattoos?"

"No," Lisa says. "And they're not even matching."

"They're kind of matching. We got them at the same time. They're both insects." She pouts. "They're on us... forever."

"Wow, tattoos are on you forever?" Lisa gasps, looking down at her half sleeve. "Shit, why didn't anyone tell me?"

The older gives her shoulder a little push and hops off the table. "Face it, Limario, you're stuck with me just like you're stuck with all your tattoos." Then she heads back to the piercing station to prep for an appointment she has in a little bit.

"Whatever, Jendeukie!" The Thai calls after her and she hears Jennie's giggle echo back at her.

Of course, Lisa's just messing. She'll probably give Jennie whatever matching tattoos she wants. As she always has, ever since they became friends when Lisa was just a sixteen-year-old foreigner trying to make it as a professional dancer at an entertainment company known as YG.

She'd needed a place to stay and found Jennie's ad on Craigslist to rent a cheap broom closet of a room. It wasn't much but it was all she could afford at the time. And when it was clear she didn't have the patience or the right connections to make it into the K-Pop scene and she went totally broke, Jennie let her stay rent-free while she apprenticed at a tattoo shop and tried to make her way in the world.

That's just the kind of person Jennie is.

So to pay her back, Lisa gives her tattoos for free whenever she wants. It's a pretty normal custom for artists to give their friends free tats, but to Lisa, it means something.

See, she has three rides or dies in life:

Dancing, photography and Jennie Chanel Princess damn Kim.

Those three things have always been there for her, and Lisa has never strayed from them, loyal 'til the end.

So if Jennie wants to get matching superhero tattoos, well, then, they will.

"Hey, Lisa, are you free?" A voice calls out from the front, and Lisa looks up from her station to see their receptionist Joy trying to get her attention.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"We got a walk-in."

She gets up and heads to the front. As she approaches, she sees two girls leaning against the counter in the waiting area, flipping through the bound books showing their artist portfolios and samples.

They seem close, leaning into each other to point at examples they like. The Thai immediately guesses it's the smaller one getting the tattoo, bets it's some flower print or something probably. She has a keen sense for things like this.

"Hi," she says as she walks up. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm looking to get a tattoo," the smaller one says, and like, yeah, Lisa nailed it.

She raises her eyebrows. "Uh, nah you're in the wrong place, we don't do that here."

"She's kidding," Joy yells from the front desk and Lisa smirks. Yeah, Joy. No shit.

"Alright, well what were you thinking?" Lisa leans her forearms on the counter as the girl pulls up a picture on her phone.

"I was thinking something like this," she says, holding her phone out to Lisa.

She expects something cutesy and is utterly surprised when the picture is this vicious-looking serpent tat.

"Whoa," Lisa murmurs, unable to help herself. She grabs the phone, pinching her fingers across the screen to zoom in. "Shit, dude. Alright." She nods and hands the phone back to the girl. "Where were you thinking and what size?"

"Well, I want it to span across my shoulders and back, with the tail maybe wrapping around my upper arm."

"Okay," Lisa says, the idea of it already forming in her mind. "Well, that's going to be a multi-trip deal. I'm thinking probably three sessions, four hours apiece if that works for you." She meets the girl's eyes. "And it's probably gonna get pretty pricey at that size and depending on the detail."

The girl shrugs. "I figured. I've got the cash for it."

"Cool," Lisa says. "Then let me get started. We'll do some preliminary artwork for it as a consult, see how you like it, then set up your first appointment. How's that sound?"

"Sounds great," the girl says and Lisa motions for her to follow her back to her station.

"I'm Lisa, by the way," she introduces herself, motioning for the girl to grab a seat and pulling up another chair for the friend.

The girl smiles at her. "Fits you," she says. "I'm Jisoo." She tilts her head in the friend's direction. "And that's Chaeyoung."

"I'm just here for support," Chaeyoung chuckles, and Lisa nods, pulling out her materials and starting to outline the tattoo.

"Support is good, as long as you don't pass out on me. You're not afraid of needles are you?"

"Nope," Chaeyoung grins. "Just those giant ugly fish that live in the deep ocean, but that's not really relevant in this situation, I don't think. Unless like, they had needles on their bodies? That'd be scary."

Lisa raises her eyebrows but Jisoo laughs. "I love you, Pasta."

"Aw, I love you, too, Jisoo unnie. But how often did I tell you not to call me that especially in public," Chaeng exclaimed embarrassed, but knowing her best friend who would reply with something that would definitely make her blush, Chaeyoung then changed the topic. "Are you excited? It's gonna look so cool."

Lisa grins over at them. "She's right, this is a sick tattoo."

At that moment, Jennie comes out from the piercing station in the backroom, sucking from the straw of her water bottle. "Ooh, I wanna see."

She leans all up in their personal space, which like, Lisa's talked to her about, but there's no stopping the girl. She gasps. "Oooooh, that is gonna look great. Which one of you?"

Chaeyoung points over at Jisoo. "It's Jisoo's."

Jennie narrows her eyes for a second before nodding. "Yeah, I can def see that. You're gonna love it. Lisa is great. She's done all of mine."

The Thai rolls her eyes as Jisoo and Chaeyoung lean forward and Jennie starts pointing out all of her tattoos. She doesn't really have any big ones, no sleeves or anything like Lisa, but she does have probably fifteen little ones that Lisa's given her over the years, some requested, some just because Lisa wanted to practice and Jennie's always willing to be her test body.

"...And this one Lisa did when she was in this watercolor phase and she wanted to practice on me. I think these look like finger guns, so when I made weird gunshot sounds, she was so pissed that she tried to calm down by doing some calligraphy. That's why it says ddu du ddu du."

"I like that one," Chaeyoung nods. "It's cool that you let her practice on you."

Jennie winks suggestively. "Oh, she lets me practice on her, too."

Lisa almost chokes. "Jennie unnie."

"What?" She pouts and looks to Jisoo and Chaeyoung. "Who do you think gave her all those ear monstrosities?"

Lisa sighs. That part is true. She's got about twelve pieces of jewelry in her ears right now, all thanks to Jennie's trigger happy piercing finger.

"I like the spike," Chaeyoung grins at her. "It's kind of badass."

"Thanks," Lisa mutters. "But careful or she'll coerce you into one, too. She can be very persuasive."

"So true," Jennie beams mischievously. "I really am."

Jisoo raises an eyebrow, looking Jennie up and down. "I bet."

They make eye contact for a second and Lisa tries to meet Chaeyoung's gaze, wondering if she's seeing this. Chaeyoung, however, appears oblivious, staring at Lisa's work so far.

"My mom says she'll kill me if I ever come home with," she makes air quotes, "those weird buttons in my ears." Chaeyoung scrunches her nose. "She means gauges."

"Yeah," Lisa smirks. "I assumed."

Beside them, Jisoo and Jennie launch into a conversation about which piercings Jennie likes giving best and Lisa tunes them out, focusing instead on shading the edges of the snake just right.

"Have you always wanted to be a tattoo artist?" Chaeyoung asks her, clearly not that interested in the piercing conversation either.

"Nah, not always," Lisa shrugs. "I've always liked art, though. Especially photography, the only kind of art I did as in drawing was in class, doodling too much." She chuckles. "It's probably why I was almost falling out of high school back in Thailand. Well, that and philosophy was just so fucking boring. Then I took my seven things and flew all the way here to Seoul."

"Huh," Chaeyoung nods. "That's cool. How long have you been doing this?"

Lisa thinks about. "Guess about 6 years now. Ish. Been here at blackpINK for 4."

"I read on the Instagram page that you guys only hire female artists," Chaeyoung says, and Lisa can feel her eyes on her.

"Yeah, that's Chaerin's and Dara's doing. They own the place." Lisa jerks her head toward Chaerin's open office door. "I'll tell her you checked out the Insta. She's always wondering if social media does anything."

"Course I did." Then Chaeyoung's voice hushes a little and she leans forward. "I wasn't going to let Jisoo get a huge snake on her forever without finding a place with talented and trustworthy artists."

Lisa looks up at her and their heads are a little closer than she anticipated. She notices Chaeyoung has really dark eyelashes. They're pretty. She feels herself grinning. "You'd be surprised to know that you're smarter than about sixty percent of the people who come in here then."

Chaeyoung seems surprised. "Really?"

"Yep," Lisa says, turning back to her sketch. "A lot of people walk in with no plan. And that's cool sometimes, no biggie. Spontaneity is fun. But we also get a lot of drunk people, and we have a policy against that kind of thing of course, but sometimes you can't really tell. And sometimes people need liquid courage, but I usually try to avoid those people if I can help it. Had a few too many puking on my shoes, to be honest."

"Gross," Chaeyoung crinkles her nose in disgust.

"Right?" Lisa chuckles again. "It's wild." Then she clears her throat and pushes the paper with the finished sketch on it over to Jisoo. "So what do you think about this?"

Jisoo stops mid-sentence in her conversation with Jennie to look at it. Then she beams at Lisa. "I love it."

"Cool." Lisa grabs the iPad again and pulls up her calendar. "So... obviously I'll scale it up to fit the size you want. Do you want to make the first appointment? Oh, and we do a lowkey deposit that eventually comes out of the final payment..."

Jisoo sets it all up to come back in three days and get started. Then she and her friend walk out into the bright sunshine, conversing excitedly and giggling at each other.

"They were cute," Jennie says, coming up behind her.

Lisa rolls her eyes and fights off a smile. "You say that about every person who comes in here."

"Well, there's a lot of cute people in the world."

Lisa shakes her head and starts back toward her station just as Jennie's piercing appointment walks in. Jennie grins and taps Lisa on the butt as she walks away.

"So about that belly button piercing," she calls over her shoulder. "Just think about it!"

Lisa pretends she doesn't hear her.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

"Okay, so which side do you want the head on?"

"Left," Jisoo says, looking over her shoulder. "I want the tail wrapping around my right shoulder."

Lisa settles herself near the left shoulder. "Alright then, let's get started." She looks over to Chaeyoung. "You wanna hold her hand or something?"

Chaeyoung smiles and reaches her fingers toward Jisoo, who awkwardly grasps them from her current position on her stomach.

"Don't make me laugh, Pasta."

"Okay," Chaeyoung smiles at her friend. "Just don't look at my face. I know you think my cheeks are funny."

Jisoo's body moves with a small chuckle. "Shut up, I'm serious."

"Okay, okay!" Chaeyoung uses her free hand to zip her lips. "I'm being quiet."

Lisa purses her lips in concentration and gets to work, touching the gun to Jisoo's bare shoulder. For her part, Jisoo's taken everything like a champ so far. She slipped her shirt off like it was no big deal when Lisa told her to, and then easily hopped up in the chair on her stomach. 

Sometimes people are awkward about taking their clothes off, even when Lisa needs them to, because like, hello, what is she gonna do, tattoo over their clothes? But apparently, this is no issue whatsoever for Jisoo.

And now, Lisa touches the buzzing needle to her skin, and there's barely a flinch, just a slight hiss of air through her teeth, and Lisa braces for the muscle tightening below her hands.

"Try to relax," she advises, something she probably says a hundred times a week.

Jisoo's body relaxes underneath her and Lisa continues, blotting at the ink and blood now congealing under the gun.

She works for a while, settling into her groove and half jamming to the music in the background and half-listening to Jisoo and Chaeyoung's conversation in case they ask her something.

Halfway through the session, Jennie comes back from a lunch run, stopping by to admire Lisa's work and pass her a sandwich and her midday caffeine boost. "Ham and Swiss and your iced chocolate milk, two extra splashes of milk."

"Thanks," Lisa says, peeling off her gloves and letting Jisoo take a break for a few minutes.

"Always, Pokpak," Jennie winks at her and moves to where Chaeyoung is holding a mirror up so Jisoo can see the snake on her shoulder. "Ooh, it looks great so far," she gasps excitedly, her hand squeezing Jisoo's uninked bicep.

Jisoo looks Jennie up and down. Jennie grins coyly. Lisa takes a sip of her iced chocolate.

Chaeyoung fumbles the mirror she's holding, just barely catching it and breaking Jisoo and Jennie's eye contact. "Sorry, sorry!" She blushes, gingerly setting the mirror down on the chair next to her.

Lisa bites back a grin and sets her coffee on her table. "Careful or you'll have seven years of bad luck."

Chaeyoung's eyes grow wide. "That's just superstition."

"Lisa's very superstitious," Jennie interjects. "She always puts her left shoe on first. And that's why she gave me this ladybug." Jennie holds out her wrist where one-half of their bug tattoos are. "It's lucky."

Chaeyoung crinkles her eyebrows and gestures to Lisa's ear. "Is that why you have a rainbow behind your ear? They're lucky, right?"

Lisa's hand goes up to her ear instinctually. "Uh, no."

"That's because she's hella gay," Jennie whispers loudly, and Lisa swats at her.

Jennie just giggles and jumps out of the way. Lisa doesn't really mind though and Jennie knows it, or she wouldn't have said it.

Jisoo looks back and forth between them, eyebrows raised in interest. "Oh, I see." Her eyes flicker between them suggestively, but Lisa's quick to shake her head.

"Nuh-uh. Nope."

Jennie sighs forlornly. "Not that I haven't tried."

"Unnie."

"What?" She shrugs back at Jisoo and Chaeyoung. "Lisa has a type. I'm much too forward for her."

"Dude!" Lisa's face falls in her hands. "TMI!"

Jennie just grins. "See?"

Then she laughs and walks toward the back room. Jisoo and Chaeyoung watch her go with interest and Lisa wonders for the fifty billionth time in her life why fate made her favorite person someone as infuriating as Jennie Kim.

After a second she pulls herself together and turns to Jisoo.

"Alright," she says begrudgingly. "Let's get back to it."

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

She gets the outline of the serpent complete after a few hours of work and calls it quits for the day.

Jisoo seems very satisfied so far, so Lisa's really encouraged. The girls leave blackpINK with smiles on their faces, chatting about getting something to eat. Lisa settles back in her chair and adds the in-progress picture to her Instagram.

When she looks up, Jennie's perched herself on the end of Lisa's table, as she always seems to do.

Lisa gives her a look. "How many times have I told you. You can't hook up with the clients."

Jennie schools her expression into something bordering innocent. Or it would be if Lisa didn't know her so well. "What do you mean? I didn't."

"You were making bedroom eyes at that girl for like two straight hours."

Jennie raises her eyebrows. "I'm naturally flirty, Lisa. I didn't realize that was illegal." Lisa grumbles to herself as Jennie continues. "Besides, she's your client, not mine."

Lisa fixes her with a glare, but that just causes Jennie's smile to grow and her eyes to glint playfully.

"Jennie..."

"Hey, Sandara!" Jennie calls before Lisa can stop her. "Are there any rules about me flirting with Lisa's clients?"

Dara's voice comes from the office as she sat next to Chaerin, checking something on the shop's computer. "That girl was fine, Kim. Hit that."

"You two disgust me," Lisa mutters and Jennie just laughs.

"Live a little, Lis. When was the last time you even went on a date?"

Lisa scowls. "You know when. I live with you. You know every freaking detail of my pathetic life."

"I know, right?" Jennie is much too pleased for Lisa's taste. She jumps off the table and wraps her arm around Lisa's shoulders, gesturing in front of them with the other. "The possibilities and opportunities for you are endless, honey. You're young, you're talented, you're hot, you have super sexy piercings if I do say so myself." Lisa snorts. "Flirt a little. It's fuuuuunnnn."

Lisa shrugs her arm off and sticks her tongue out. "Easy for you to say. You speak flirty girl."

"I know. I love being bilingual."

"Oh stop."

Jennie hip checks her and starts to walk toward her bosses office. "Don't hate, Limario. Just try it!"

"That's what the drug dealer says right before they get you hooked on meth."

Jennie ignores her and steps into the office, waggling her fingers a little over her shoulder.

Lisa sinks lower into her chair, her scowl deepening and tries to pretend that some small part of her doesn't think Jennie is right.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Lisa has a busy week. She's got appointments lined up back to back every day and she stays until ten every night.

She doesn't really have time to think about anything other than tattoos and pricing and consults, food and showering and sleeping.

Still, as the days pass, she can't stop thinking about what Jennie said. Her comments have apparently wiggled their way deep under Lisa's skin and her brain scratches at them like an itch, constant and irritating.

When was the last time she went on a date? She honestly can't remember. She doesn't want to admit that it's been three years, at least since she broke up with her ex, Kim Taehyung, but the more she thinks about it, the more she realizes that it probably has been that long.

And it's not that Lisa hasn't wanted to date. She's just been busy and honestly, she's just never into anyone. Sure, she finds people attractive or whatever, but usually the more attractive they are, the more they bug Lisa.

She just has a really low tolerance for people in large doses. Pretty much the only person she can handle on a constant basis is Jennie, and that's really only because Jennie's pruned her to be that way, hacking away at the parts of Lisa's tolerance that finds Jennie's forwardness and flirtiness annoying until they're gone and Lisa's left thinking they're just endearing.

And she has no idea how Jennie pulled that off... Like some sort of magic trick, an illusion Lisa can't figure out.

No, Jennie is an outlier, one that doesn't belong on the annoyance vs attractiveness spectrum. And Jennie... Lisa's considered it, but well, Jennie is her best friend, and something in this life just isn't lining up for anything romantic between them.

And it sucks because a person like Jennie is one in a million.

Lisa doubts she'll find another.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

"Ham and Swiss and iced chocolate, two extra splashes of milk."

Jennie sets her usual lunch down on her table before pulling up the spinny chair from the station next to her. It's Seulgi's, but she's off today.

"Thanks," Lisa murmurs, still focusing on what she's doing. There's a good song playing in the background and she's in the zone.

"Always, Pokpak," Jennie volleys back, as usual. "So how are we doing here?"

"Well, my fingers might fall off from being squeezed so hard, but other than that... great," chirps Chaeyoung's voice, and Lisa bites back a smile.

She hears Jennie laugh. "Yeah, that's a tough spot." There's a slurping sound as Jennie takes a drink, then, "I've seen all kinds of people cry when getting a tat on that spot."

"Really?" Chaeyoung asks.

"Yep," Jennie answers. "But between you and me that's probably because Lisa rejected their attempts at flirting by stabbing them with the tattoo gun."

Jisoo's body shakes with laughter and Lisa pulls the gun up. "Unnie."

"Does she always says that in this kind of tone?" Jisoo says through another laugh and Lisa watches as Jennie smirks.

"Oh yeah. I often wish she'd say it in another tone, but you can't win 'em all. At least I escape getting stabbed by the gun."

Lisa scowls and points to her ears. "No, just as punishment you stab me with yours."

"You guys are kinky, are you sure you're not a couple?" Jisoo looks over her shoulder, grinning.

Lisa holds the gun up menacingly in response.

"Just asking," Jisoo tssks, popping on her gum and lying back down. Lisa continues adding the interior details to her snake.

"Jisoo's much too forward, too," Chaeyoung comments in Lisa's direction. "Looks like our friends have that in common."

"And we're both hot, don't forget that." Jennie's voice floats back to them from her position on her stomach.

Jennie grins much too wide, a pleasing sound escaping her throat as she struts to her backroom.

Lisa pauses her work and meets Chaeyoung's eyes. Chaeyoung smiles at her knowingly and tilts her head as if to say, see?

Lisa shakes her head in amusement, laughing a little at the exasperated expression on Chaeyoung's face.

She likes Chaeyoung. Well, as far as friends of the person you're tattooing goes. Pretty much everyone that comes in to get tattooed brings some sort of support. Usually, it's a friend (or a few), and Lisa's had her fair share of clients with shitty friends.

Not that she's one to judge, but she can just tell.

There are the college kids who are on their own for the first time and rebelling, bringing whichever roommate was free that day to hold their hand and brag about how their mom is going to kill them. 

There are the people who lose a bet and bring the friends who won, making them get something stupid tattooed on their butts. Lisa's always happy to be part of a funny story - it's part of her job not to judge - but she lowkey thinks those friends are kind of shitty, too.

And there are friends like Chaeyoung, who tag along because they want to because it's fun and they want to hold their friend's hand, chat up the tattoo artist to distract their friend from the pain.

Lisa likes those friends.

And Chaeyoung is just nice, genuine in her questions and eager to help Jisoo in whatever way she can. Lisa respects that.

She's also cute. Not that that has to do with anything, but it helps the likability thing, nudges Lisa in the direction of fondness. Chaeyoung is tall and energetic, her long, blonde hair always falling over her shoulder with a shiny sleekness. And Lisa thinks she has pretty eyes. They hold an earnestness Lisa isn't used to seeing in most people. Like Chaeyoung is always exactly who she is, never putting on some show or persona. She just seems very real to Lisa.

Not to mention her cheeks, they might even be Lisa's favorite feature.

So yeah, Lisa likes her.

"So what do you do? You in school or something?" She asks Chaeyoung after a minute of concentration. Chit chat is an unfortunate part of her job. She has to be a people person. Which is why she's making conversation.

Not because she's interested.

Nuh uh.

"Me? Oh, no, I graduated a while back. I'm actually a songwriter."

Lisa raises her eyebrows, impressed. "No shit? Anything I'd know?"

"Uhhhh," Chaeyoung hums. "No, probably not."

"Oh, come on, Rosie," Jisoo admonishes over her shoulder. "She's lying," she addresses Lisa. "She wrote that song Eyes Closed? You know, that Halsey one."

"Oh, hell yeah, I know that." She lifts the gun up and spins in her chair toward the iPad on her table. Then she scrolls through her generic tattooing playlist and clicks on the song. She turns back with a smile as it starts to play out of the speakers mounted on the walls. "Got it on my playlist."

Chaeyoung turns sheepish, blushing and looking away. "Oh. Yep... that's... that's mine."

Lisa nods her head to the beat. "Right on, that's awesome. You sing too?"

"No," Chaeyoung says at the same time Jisoo says, "Yes."

Lisa looks between them, before shaking her head and putting the buzzing gun back to Jisoo's shoulder.

"I mean," Chaeyoung clears her throat. "I do some backup for some people. Like uh, I danced and did some singing for Boy With Luv recently."

"The Halsey collaboration with BTS?"

"They're best friends," Jisoo interjects.

Chaeyoung whips around. "That's not true. You're my best friend."

"Well, besides me." Jisoo winces a little as Lisa runs over the bone. "And she's a really good singer. I keep telling her to stop selling her stuff and sing it herself. And listen, I'm the smart one and I'll -"

"Be my manager, yeah, yeah, I know," Chaeyoung laughs. "She never shuts about this," Chaeoyung murmurs to Lisa.

Lisa grins. "Yeah, I know the feeling. That one," she jerks her head to Jennie's backroom. "Never shuts up about piercing my belly button."

"IT'D LOOK SEXY! LET IT HAPPEN!" Jennie's voice calls out from the back.

Chaeyoung's eyes go wide. "How did she hear that?"

"I HEAR EVERYTHING!"

"Ooh, I like her," Jisoo hums in approval.

"EVERYONE DOES!"

Lisa sighs as Chaeyoung bursts into laughter.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

"Do you think it would be like, unethical to get that girl's number from her liability form and ask her out?" Jennie says a few minutes after Jisoo and Chaeyoung leave.

"Yes."

Jennie tssks. "You are no fun sometimes."

"All the time, really."

"No, not all the time. You're fun when you're drunk."

Lisa glares. "Ha ha."

"You could ask out her friend and we could double date."

Lisa blinks. "What? No."

Jennie pouts. "Why not? You like her."

"I don't even know her."

Jennie grins slyly. Like she knows something Lisa doesn't. Lisa doesn't like it. "You have her song on your playlist."

"So?" Lisa starts to clean up all the materials on her table. "That's just a coincidence."

"You think she's cute."

"I... what. I mean," Lisa sputters and Jennie's smile grows. "I don't know how you could even ascertain that. You were barely in the room!"

Jennie waggles her eyebrows and kicks out at Lisa's chair so she spins away across the tiled floor. "I can read your mind, Pokpak."

Lisa slides back and swipes at Jennie's cheek with her pointer finger. "I'm going to get ink on you."

"Your ink is all over me, anyway," Jennie gestures at her tattoos, giggling. "And that color looks amazing on me." Lisa braces her feet on the floor as Jennie pushes her chair again. "Don't change the subject."

"I will if I want to," Lisa scowls like a pouty twelve-year-old, but Jennie knows her too well and isn't bothered in the slightest.

"You think she's gorgeous, you want to kiss her, love her and marry herrrrrr."

Lisa feels heat rush into her cheeks at Jennie's ridiculousness and she laughs. "Unnie."

"Let's watch Miss Congeniality tonight."

"Only if you stop this."

"Hm," Jennie grins. "Deal."

Then she gives Lisa an obnoxiously wet smooch on the cheek and disappears into her backroom.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Jisoo struts in for her last appointment with a grin on her face. It reminds Lisa of Jennie for some reason, all-knowing and coy and suspicious.

She narrows her eyes, but Jisoo just whips off her shirt and crawls up on Lisa's chair before she even says hello.

Lisa pauses, then shrugs. "No Chaeyoung today?" She asks, but just as the words come out of her mouth, the door swings open again and in stumbles Chaeyoung, holding one of those drink carriers with four cups in it.

"Oh, she's here," Jisoo says in a voice to match her smile. "The way she asked to come you'd think it was her appointment."

Lisa watches as Chaeyoung scurries up to her station, practically skidding to a halt in front of them. "Hey!" She grins. "Hi. I uh." She grabs one of the cups from the drink carrier and hands it over to Lisa. "Iced chocolate, two extra splashes of milk."

Lisa just stares, her hand tentatively reaching for the coffee.

"That's your order, right?" Chaeyoung suddenly seems uncertain and Lisa nods, dumbfounded.

"Uh. Yeah?"

"Okay, cool." Then she scuttles off to Jennie's backroom. There's a moment of nothing and then...

"Oh my God, I love you!" Jennie's voice screeches.

Lisa snorts as Chaeyoung returns, a blush seeping into her cheeks and another cup absent from the carrier.

"Iced caramel macchiato," she whispers. "I was right."

Lisa chuckles as Chaeyoung flops down into her designated chair. "You didn't have to get us coffee, you know."

"I know," Chaeyoung murmurs, her blush still present. "I just thought it'd be nice."

"It was," Jisoo interjects. "But you're holding mine hostage. Pass it over."

"Oh right." Chaeyoung shifts in the chair, taking the third cup from the carrier and handing it to Jisoo. Jisoo sips from the straw and sets the cup on the floor. Chaeyoung wiggles her own coffee out and cups her hands around it, setting the empty carrier off to the side.

Lisa clears her throat. "Alright, well, let's get started. Or... finished, I guess."

She gets to work and they sit in silence for a while. Jisoo appears to be semi-napping, even as Lisa guides the buzzing tattoo gun over her shoulder bone, which Lisa thinks is impressive. Chaeyoung's scrolling through her social media feed on her phone and humming along to the playlist Lisa has going on in the background.

Lisa looks up at her every few minutes, whenever she needs to adjust or take a breath. Chaeyoung's slouched in her chair, sweatpants-clad legs spread wide. Her biceps and abs are toned and tan in her crop top and she's got a snapback pulled over her forehead.

She's really freaking... cute.

Lisa has to keep telling herself to focus because she can't mess up Jisoo's tattoo, obviously. Not that she would, but she can't afford to be distracted by some girl in a snapback and baggy sweatpants. How gay is that?

She decides to break the silence as a different kind of distraction, like maybe if Chaeyoung's speaking, Lisa won't find that she wants to look at her so much.

"So what have you been up to today?"

Jisoo's still semi-out of it, so Chaeyoung takes it as a cue to answer. "Hm, was just working and now we're here. I'm not sure if I have plans in the evening or anything. Probably not."

"Working? Like writing your songs or whatever?"

"No, not today," Chaeyoung laughs. "I was dancing actually. I'm going to be in the upcoming TWICE music video, so. Choreo."

Lisa nods. That explains the outfit. "That's cool."

"Yeah, I like it," Chaeyoung says, her voice all soft and happy, and Lisa's not sure why she thought Chaeyoung speaking would make her not want to look at her.

Now she just like, wants to look more.

Stupid.

She grits her teeth and keeps her eyes on what she's doing. If she focuses, then she'll be done soon.

Then it occurs to her that she'll be done soon. Like, after this, Jisoo's tattoo will be complete and the two of them will have no reason to come back anymore. At least regularly. Maybe they would in the future, but there's no guarantee Lisa will see them again.

And okay, fine, it makes her a little disappointed. She's not too proud or cool or whatever to admit she's grown fond of Jisoo and Chaeyoung. They're funny and good company. And giving someone a tattoo for a compiled like, twelve hours is an intimate thing. Lisa's always known that. Tattoos become a part of someone, like a merging of what someone wants most, the trust they place in the artist, and what the artist creates.

It's like music in that way. They're connected.

And it's not just with the person getting the tattoo. It's like the whole experience. The place and the colors and the conversations they had. It's Lisa and Jisoo and Chaeyoung, and Jennie walking over for a few minutes every hour just to chill and see the progress.

It's Chaerin in the office and the music they're playing every time Lisa touches the gun to skin.

Getting and giving a tattoo is just really romantic to Lisa. Not romantic in the love sense, but in the sense that every time is a significant moment, something to hold onto like you hold a breath, precious and temporal, even after you let it go.

And okay, maybe she's dramatic or emo or fucking PMSing or some shit, but she's always looked at life this way. Through art and music and these... experiences.

It's all she's ever had.

As she puts the finishing shading details onto Jisoo's skin, she can't help but feel a little nostalgic.

For what, though, she's not sure.

She doesn't usually get like this when she's finishing a tattoo.

"Alright," she says, turning off the gun and sitting back. "I think it's done. Here, have a look."

Jisoo sits up and faces the wall mirror while Chaeyoung holds the hand mirror up for her. She twists her torso gingerly, checking out one side of her body and then the other.

Then she beams over at Lisa. "This is the best fucking thing I've ever seen."

Lisa laughs at that, smiling happily. "Then that's the best fucking thing I've ever heard."

And Lisa admits, that snake does look awesome. It looks like it's slithering across Jisoo's back, the head resting on her shoulder, its jeweled eyes red and terrifying. The tail gets skinnier as it reaches her right shoulder until it wraps up and under the arm, the end just peeking out by Jisoo's collarbone.

Lisa's pleased, especially if Jisoo is.

They get things squared away, Lisa taking a picture for her Insta and portfolio, Jisoo finishing up her payment. She gives Lisa a hefty tip and Chaeyoung gives her a hug, quick and enthusiastic.

Lisa's uncomfortable for the first half-second of it, then she wraps her arms around Chaeyoung's waist and hugs back, smiling when they pull apart.

Jisoo's gone to show Jennie her finished tattoo and Chaeyoung shifts on her feet awkwardly, glancing at Lisa every few seconds like she wants to say something, but she never does.

Lisa's getting the same feeling but has no idea what she'd say if she opened mouth.

Hey, tell Jisoo to come to get another tattoo just so I can see you again?

Yeah... okay.

Instead, they just stand there, staring at the tattoo samples on the walls, until Jisoo struts back, a smirk on her face and shine about her eyes.

Then the two leave the shop and Lisa watches them go.

Well, she thinks. Another satisfied customer.

And that's that.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Or so she thought.

It's a Tuesday two weeks later, and Lisa's lounging on the couch in the waiting area. She's on walk-ins today, her schedule free until the evening, and she can hear the sound of Seulgi's gun coming from her station. But Tuesdays at noon aren't super busy, so Lisa's just dancing and humming along to the music and trying not to die of boredom.

The door opens, followed by the tingling of the bell, and Lisa stills as Joy goes through her receptionist spiel.

"Yeah, I'm looking for Jennie. I'm here for a piercing."

And Lisa knows that voice.

"She's in the back right now, let me get her for you," Joy says.

"No problem, she knows me. I'll just go back."

Then another familiar voice: "Is Lisa here?"

"Uh yeah, she's -"

"Chaeyoung?" Lisa peeks over the counter separating the waiting area from the front, and yeah, there's Chaeyoung, tall and pretty, gesturing toward the back.

Chaeyoung turns in her direction, a wide smile breaking over her face. "Hey," Chaeyoung says, and Lisa stands up and walks closer automatically. "You know, you can call me Chaeng, or Chae, or Rosé, or Rosie if you like, uhm, it's a bit shorter than Chaeyoung."

"Hey, Rosie," Lisa smiles back. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh," Chaeyoung's eyes flicker toward Jennie's room and she shrugs. "Jisoo's getting a piercing."

"Oh," Lisa nods. "I thought I recognized that voice."

Chaeyoung rocks forward on her toes. "Yep. So whatcha doing?"

"Nothing, actually," Lisa says wryly. "I'm bored."

"Oh. You wanna give me a tattoo?" Chaeyoung teases and Lisa grins.

"Yeah, okay, if you want one."

Chaeyoung pauses. "Uh." Her lips twist in thought. "I mean, I was kidding, but..."

"So was I," Lisa laughs.

"Right." Then Chaeyoung frowns to herself. "Well actually now I kind of want one. Is that weird?"

"Everyone who walks into a tattoo shop asks themselves if they want a tattoo, so I'm gonna say no." Lisa gestures for Chaeyoung to follow her and she walks back to her station. "Okay, so let's just say, hypothetically, you wanted one, what would you get?"

Chaeyoung gives her a fond look. "You ask everyone that don't you?"

"Yeah, it's my job," Lisa grins. "But I'm curious anyway."

"Well, I don't know. I guess..." She points at Lisa's wrist. "I really like your little ukulele," She pointed to her wrist and I always kind of wanted something with music. Not a ukulele but maybe in the same place. Music notes or something."

"Sit," Lisa tells her, pointing to the rolly chair. "And put your arm up here." She pats the tattoo chair and lays down a towel.

Chaeyoung turns apprehensive but does as she's asked. "You're not like..."

"No," Lisa laughs. "It's on you forever, pabo, I wouldn't just like, go at it without your permission."

"Right," Chaeyoung relaxes. "So, what are you doing?"

Lisa holds up a Sharpie. "Temporary tat. Middle school style."

Chaeyoung smiles and shifts forward in her chair more. "Is this some marketing tool? Draw on all the potential customers so they realize how much they like it and come back and ask for a real one?"

"Yep." Lisa uncaps the Sharpie and looks at Chaeyoung. "But also I'm just bored."

"Okay," Chaeyoung says softly, and her eyes flutter shut when Lisa takes her hand.

Lisa smirks. "Keep still."

"Yes, ma'am."

Lisa leans closer and presses the Sharpie into Chaeyoung's skin, watching the ink bleed into it. Then she starts to draw, pulling Chaeyoung's skin taut so the marker doesn't catch any wrinkles.

She's only been going for about thirty seconds when Chaeyoung starts to hum quietly to herself, matching the pitch of the song playing from Lisa's playlist, some Taylor Swift song. Then she starts to sing, barely, just enough that Lisa can hear.

"Jisoo's right," Lisa says after the chorus passes. "You do have a nice voice."

"Thanks," Chaeyoung smiles. "I still don't wanna be an idol, though."

Lisa tilts her head in question. "Doesn't everyone want to be famous?"

"Not me." Chaeyoung shrugs, her fingers fidgeting against Lisa's. "I just want to write without any pressure. And I actually really like writing for other people. I feel like just writing for yourself is so limiting, unless you're like Beyoncé or Lady Gaga or something. I'm stuck with my own sound and what I can do and my own limitations. But if I write for other people, there are so many options and like, directions I can go in, depending on who it's for and what genre and their range and stuff."

Lisa hums in understanding. "That makes sense. Paparazzi would suck, too."

Chaeyoung grins widely. "Yeah, exactly."

"I tried to make it in the music world, once upon a time."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Lisa nods, thickening one of the lines of Chaeyoung's Sharpie tattoo. "I wanted to be an idol."

Chaeyoung meets her eyes, genuine and interested. "What happened?"

"Uh, I quit," Lisa laughs. "I couldn't handle working with racists and sexists, who judged me for being foreign, accusing me of spoiling their beloved company and also how masculine I apparently looked like and that all day. I didn't have the connections to work with anyone who understood that it doesn't matter where you come from to make a great K-pop group." She kind of smiles at the memory even if it drove her crazy all those years ago. "So I quit. And now I do this."

They fall into silence for a moment, lost in their thoughts. Then Chaeyoung says, "Do you like it?"

"What?" Lisa glances up. "Being a tattoo artist?" Chaeyoung nods. "Yeah, I love it."

They smile at each other, and the moment seems to stretch. Finally, Lisa clears her throat and pulls back. "There," she says. "Finished."

Chaeyoung immediately holds her wrist up, taking in her temporary tattoo, the spiraling treble clef and the staff, empty. "No notes?" She asks, looking back up at Lisa.

Lisa shrugs. "Didn't want to limit you."

Something changes in Chaeyoung's face, from curious and teasing to wondrous and uncertain. Lisa, against all instincts that tell her not to, looks down at Chaeyoung's lips.

"Umm." Her throat is dry. "I..."

There was a loud laugh and Jennie and Jisoo suddenly exit the backroom, jolting Lisa backward. She stutters over a breath as the two of them appear in her line of sight. Chaeyoung reluctantly tears her gaze from Lisa's and smiles over at them.

"Hey," she says. "Did you get it?"

"Oh yeah, I got it," Jisoo replies, her voice laced with suggestion. And that's when Lisa notices that while Jisoo's sporting a nice new industrial piercing, Jennie's sporting the beginnings of pinkish hickey on the side of her neck and a wide smile.

Chaeyoung seems to notice this, too. "I see... I mean... nice! Yeah. It looks great. You look great. I mean. You always look great. Yeah." She visibly cringes and Jisoo pats her on the shoulder.

"Thanks, Pasta." Then she gasps, grabbing Chaeyoung's wrist. "What the fuck! Did you get a tattoo?"

"Uh, no." Chaeyoung blushes. "It's just Sharpie."

"Girl," Jisoo releases Chaeyoung's hand. "I was about to say. That's a little extreme for a crush."

Chaeyoung's cheeks somehow get redder and her eyes flicker to Lisa.

Lisa blinks. Does Jisoo mean her? She glances back at Chaeyoung, but Chaeyoung's avoiding her gaze like she's Medusa or something.

"ANYWAY," Chaeyoung says loudly. "Are you ready to go? I'm ready to go! Let's go."

Then she grabs Jisoo's arm and calls "BYE!" over her shoulder, before pulling Jisoo out of the shop.

"Did she pay for that industrial?" Lisa asks, dumbfounded.

"Definitely," Jennie gushes in a way that makes Lisa think Jisoo didn't pay with money.

"Nice hickey." She pokes at Jennie's neck.

Jennie just cocks her hip out, staring after Jisoo and Chaeyoung and popping her gum. "Got her number," she beams at Lisa. "Did you?"

"Uh. No?"

"Lisa!" Jennie whines, turning toward her and shaking her by the shoulders. "But she's cuuuuute. And you're cute. And you like each other!"

"You're going to turn my brain into a milkshake," Lisa groans, yanking away from Jennie. Jennie just looks at her with these big disappointed eyes and regret swims in Lisa's stomach. "Ugh, well maybe I would've, but you guys burst out of your room without any sensitivity for what was happening out here!"

Which is, you know, totally what happened, but Lisa's pretty sure she wouldn't have gotten Chaeyoung's number anyway. She's lame like that. But still.

Jennie hmphs and whips out her phone, her fingers tapping away at the screen so intensely she might be diffusing a bomb instead of texting. It immediately buzzes in her hand and Jennie turns to her triumphantly.

"Here," she says, thrusting the phone in Lisa's face. "Got her number from Jisoo for you."

Lisa blinks down at the screen, the ten digits looming at her from a text bubble. "Uh."

Jennie huffs and grabs the Sharpie Lisa used to draw on Chaeyoung's wrist and uncaps it. Then she takes hold of Lisa's arm and starts scrawling the number across it.

"Dude!" Lisa tries to pull away, but Jennie's got a firm grip and she's almost done with the number anyway. When she finally let go, shooting Lisa one of her most endearing smiles, the numbers are printed in Jennie's sprawling handwriting in dark permanent marker.

Lisa gapes, like truly, opening and closing her mouth, sputtering until an incomprehensible sound pushes its way out of her throat.

"Chill, Pokpak, it's just a number." Jennie cups Lisa's cheeks in her hands and stares into her eyes. "I want you to be happy and have fun. Please. She makes you smile, and do you even know how rare that is?"

Lisa grumbles. "I smile."

"Lisa, you sneer and you smirk and you roll your eyes. I mean a real smile, like, hurts your cheeks and makes you soften into mush smile."

"I do that," Lisa protests. "I do that with you all the time!"

"You need more than one person in your life who makes you feel good, Limario." Jennie gives her this sad little look, Lisa's cheeks still in her hands. "And unfortunately, you can't handle all of this."

Lisa's shoulders drop. "We'd be a whirlwind, wouldn't we?"

"A freaking tornado, honey." Jennie beams like the idea please her so, so much. "A goddamn disaster."

"I love you, you know," Lisa says in a moment of vulnerability because it's Jennie.

Jennie pats her cheeks softly before releasing them. "Oh, I know. You're my favorite person in the world. So step out of your comfort zone for five minutes and let yourself be happy. Just try."

"Okay." Lisa reluctantly looks at the numbers scrawled on her arm. "I'll... try."

"Good," Jennie says. "I love you." Then she blows Lisa a kiss and heads up to talk to Joy. "Hey, Joy! You'll never guess what just happened..."

Lisa sighs and takes out her phone. Then she sets it on her table. Then picks it up again. Types the numbers into a new message. Sets the phone down again. Puts her head in her hands. Takes a deep breath.

Why is this so hard?

She can do this.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Lisa: Hey is this Chaeng... this is Lisa

Chaeyoung: :O Lisa!

Lisa: Yeah hey. I got your number from Jennie who got it from Jisoo

Chaeyoung: lol..... They hooked up in your backroom i'm soooooooo sorry

Lisa: it's fine... not the first time tbh

Chaeyoung: HAHA

Chaeyoung: ya they have... a lot in common

Lisa: yeah it seems like that. so I was just wondering if you wanna hang out sometime or something

Chaeyoung: like... a date?

Lisa: well it sounds lame over text but yeah. if you want to

Chaeyoung: I'd love to :)

Lisa: great

Chaeyoung: :)

Chaeyoung: tonight?

Lisa: oh. well, I have an appointment tonight at work and I think it ends at 10. I'm okay to go out after that if you want to though...

Chaeyoung: ya that sounds fun :) meet you at your work at 10 then?

Lisa: okay... cool

Chaeyoung: see you then!! :)

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

"DID YOU ASK HER OUT YET?!"

"YES, AND SHE SAID YES NOW LEAVE ME ALONE UNNIE!"

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Lisa doesn't have time to be anxious or nervous or whatever because she's too busy focusing on giving some college girl a tattoo of a piece of pizza, which she thinks is hilarious.

So, yeah, she's pretty unprepared when she hears the tingle of the bell and in walks Chaeyoung in these dark skinny jeans and blue flannel, her makeup all dark and thick. She waves and Lisa waves back in a daze, turning back to the college girl with her mouth dry. She finishes up the pizza and gets the girl's payment and the whole time she's wondering how in an afternoon Chaeyoung went from point-blank cute to... well. Like.

Lisa's not sure she even wants to say hot. It's like, not even enough of the right word.

And Lisa just looks like she's been at work all day. Her bangs probably a mess and she's got on her comfiest but not sexiest pair of sweatpants and an old concert tee she got like four years ago.

Oh yeah, and Chaeyoung's number is still on her arm in fucking Sharpie, so.

That's just great. Why didn't she think this through more?

The college girl leaves and since Lisa's closing tonight, it's just them, and Chaeyoung gets up off the couch and heads over to Lisa's chair. Lisa's trying to put on her zip-up jacket so Chaeyoung doesn't see the number on her arm.

"Hey," Chaeyoung grins at her and now Lisa's nervous. Which is weird because Lisa's not really a nervous type of person. She's too chill to be nervous.

Or whatever.

"'Sup?" She says back and like jesus fuck... 'Sup???? What is she... a fifteen-year-old skater dude?

But Chaeyoung just smiles wider at her and sits down in the chair she always sits down in. "Are you done with all your appointments and stuff?"

"Yeah," Lisa nods. "I've just got to clean this stuff up."

"Okay," Chaeyoung says. She spins around in the chair and Lisa laughs.

"Okay," she says back. And okay, maybe she's not that nervous anymore. This is just a chill time with a super cute girl who is kind of dorky. Lisa can roll with that.

She starts putting the needles and things in the sanitary waste and cleaning up the ink. When she looks back, Chaeyoung's leaning over the tattoo gun.

"Was it scary to give someone a tattoo for the first time?" She asks, her voice kind of hushed.

Lisa chuckles. "Yeah, totally. I mean what if I fucked up? But you kind of start slow and you're really supervised and shit. And I mean, the first tattoo I gave was to myself and it was actually just a stick and poke, so. Maybe not the first time. But with the gun, yeah."

Chaeyoung looks up at her, eyebrows furrowed. "What's a stick and poke?"

"Like... a do it yourself tattoo with like, a needle and some ink." Lisa shows her the tiny diamond tattoo on her ankle. "I did it in my high school friend's bathroom with a sewing needle and pen ink."

"Oh my God, what?"

Lisa laughs fully. "I can't believe you haven't heard of that. They were all the rage in middle school."

"Wait so you just like... take a needle and put it in ink and... poke it... into your skin?"

"Yeah," Lisa grins.

"Does it hurt?" Chaeyoung asks, her mouth wide.

Lisa shrugs. "I mean, a little. It also depends where you put it. Just like any tattoo."

"Weird."

Lisa hesitates, then for some unknown reason she will never understand, asks, "You wanna try?"

Chaeyoung gapes at her. "Try?"

"Yeah," Lisa smirks. "I'll let you give me a tiny one."

And Chaeyoung's eyes light up before she hesitates, but the quick flash of excitement decides it for Lisa. "For real?"

"Yeah, I mean," she gestures over her body. "I already have a shit ton. What's one more?"

"Is it... sanitary?" Chaeyoung scoots closer, her hands tapping on her knees.

Lisa shrugs. "I mean this is probably the most sanitary place to do it. I have all the materials and we can use like, a real needle and ink instead of pen ink." Lisa rolls over her to a material cabinet and pulls out a needle. Then she rolls back and hands it to Chaeyoung. "What color?" She asks.

Chaeyoung's holding the needle like it's a foreign object she's never seen before. "Uh. Black? Black is good."

Lisa gets some black ink and all her sterilizing stuff that she'd just put away. "Where do you want to put it?"

"Uh." Chaeyoung glances over her body for a second. "I mean, you decide? It's your tattoo, right?"

Lisa thinks about it for a second, then takes her jacket and shirt off so she's just in her black sports bra. "Alright, how 'bout here?" She points under her collarbone where her arm and shoulder meet. "It's just a little guy."

"Okay," Chaeyoung smiles. "This is so wild."

Lisa just chuckles and starts sanitizing the area. "Here, put these on." She takes the needle from Chaeyoung and hands her some gloves. Then she sanitizes the needle and places it on a paper towel. She grabs one of her felt tip markers from her table and hands it to Chaeyoung. "Okay, the first step, you draw it on with a marker."

Chaeyoung taps the marker against her chin. "I don't know what to draw. I mean... it's gonna be on you forever."

Lisa smirks. "You'd think people would have realized by now that I'm aware of that."

"Okay, well," Chaeyoung rolls her eyes at herself. "I mean, what if I mess up?"

"Then I'll get Seulgi or CL to do a fix-it job."

Chaeyoung sticks her tongue out. "'Kay well don't be a pabo about it."

A laugh bursts from Lisa, shaking her chest. "Sorry." Then she softens. "I'm sure I'll like it. It's a good story, right? And like I said, it's just a little one."

Chaeyoung hesitates, then her smile turns shy. "Okay, but no peeking."

"Deal." Lisa reaches for her phone to play some music, and then lets Chaeyoung start to draw on her. She's really close and Chaeyoung smells like cherry blossoms and clean laundry. Lisa picks a good song to distract herself.

Chaeyoung only spends about a minute drawing, then she caps the marker. "Okay."

"Okay? That was quick." Lisa goes to look down, but Chaeyoung covers it with her hand, her skin warm against Lisa's.

"Hey! No peeking!"

"Right." Lisa looks back up sheepishly. "Sorry."

Chaeyoung smiles at her, all wide and toothy. "Okay, now what?"

"Uh. Now you just... do it." She hands Chaeyoung the sterile needle and the ink. "So like, dip it in the ink and then you just, poke it? Over the parts you drew. And don't go in all the way, like you don't wanna stab, you know? Just poke. It might bleed a little, but not like a whole bunch."

"Okay..." Chaeyoung dips the needle in the ink and scoots really close to Lisa. Lisa can feel her take a big breath.

"Don't stab me," Lisa repeats and Chaeyoung laughs.

Then, moving so slowly Lisa almost can't take it, Chaeyoung touches the needle to her skin. Lisa bites her cheek.

Chaeyoung pulls back. "Sorry, did that hurt?"

Lisa shakes her head. "No more than it should."

"Alright..." Then Chaeyoung starts poking her again, tracing over the marker. After a second, she laughs to herself. "This is so crazy. I can't believe I'm giving someone a tattoo."

Lisa takes the opportunity to look at Chaeyoung up close, taking in her long eyelashes, her dark eyes, the freckles on her plump cheeks. She's like, really pretty. Like, Jennie pretty, but different. Like less coy and more earnest. Lisa kind of wants to sink into it.

"If you don't stop staring at me, I'm gonna accidentally stab you."

Lisa coughs out a laugh. "Sorry."

Chaeyoung smiles softly, still focusing on what she's doing. "It's okay, I was just kidding. I mean. Sort of. You make me kind of nervous."

"Nervous?"

"Yeah," Chaeyoung nods. "You're just like really cool and beautiful and stuff. And I'm so awkward." She laughs to herself again. "And wow I can't believe I just said that. It's way easier to talk when I have to focus on not stabbing you and can't see your face."

And Lisa is like, mush. Like for real. She doesn't know what to say. She clenches her fingers in and out, taps them against her sweatpants, tries really hard to sit still.

"I'm awkward, too," she says at last. "Like so awkward. And not in a cute way like you. Like in a not-likable way. Like in a standoffish way. Jennie says I need to smile more."

Chaeyoung hums thoughtfully. "I guess I don't know anything about that. But I don't think you're standoffish. You're just serious about your work." She smiles at Lisa briefly before focusing again on what she's doing with the needle. "I am, too."

And Lisa can't look away, feels her heart beating like a snare drum in her chest, wonders if Chaeyoung's hand, the one right on top it, can feel it tapping away. Lisa tries to slow it down, tries to breathe deeply.

Chaeyoung seems so soft, so fucking genuine. Lisa wants it to overflow out of the girl like some kind of liquid she might be able to gather up in her hands and just hold for a little bit if only so this moment won't seep away into the next like water down the drain.

As if she can read Lisa's thoughts, Chaeyoung pulls back, her eyes meeting Lisa's. She hesitates for a moment, her expression turning from soft to intense, and then she's leaning forward, this stuttering of a movement that leaves no room for confusion about what she wants.

Shaking and gentle and clumsy, Chaeyoung presses their lips together.

And it is awkward, just like them. It's not some cinematic graceful kiss. Chaeyoung exhales against her lips, trembling, and Lisa fumbles to reciprocate, anxious and wanting it to be perfect. It isn't, but somehow also is.

Chaeyoung pulls back, her cheeks red and smile wide. She looks down, her hand coming up to cover her eyes as she laughs a little. "Um," she says and she's so cute Lisa wants to kiss her again. "Now what?" Chaeyoung asks and Lisa blinks in confusion.

"What?"

"I..." She gestures to the area of Lisa's skin she's been poking at. "Now what?"

"Oh did you finish?"

"I think so." Her eyes skitter to look at Lisa before glancing away again. "Sorry, my heart is like, about to burst from my chest."

Lisa bites her lip around a smile, then grabs another towel and wets it with her soapy water bottle. "Here," she hands the towel to Chaeyoung. "Now you wipe the marker off and see how it looks. Then you go over it another time with the needle to darken it."

"Okay." Chaeyoung gently runs the towel over the spot. Lisa pretends it doesn't sting a little. "So now I just...?" Chaeyoung dips the needle in the ink and starts poking at Lisa again.

After a minute, she starts singing along to the song, Bao Bao, playing out of Lisa's phone. Lisa grins at her. "You know Thai songs?"

"Well," Chaeyoung says, pausing her singing. "I know this song?"

"It's a good song."

"Yeah," Chaeyoung agrees, a smile in her voice. "It makes me think of you."

Lisa frowns in confusion. "Really?"

Chaeyoung giggles. "No."

"I was about to say..."

Chaeyoung looks up at her again from under eyelashes, flirty and cute. "I'll make you a playlist of songs that really do make me think of you, though. But they might be too cute to play here, so you'll have to listen on your own time."

Lisa grins. "This song is gonna make me think you now, though, so make sure you add it."

"You got it, boss," Chaeyoung smiles, this big cheesy thing, all teeth, and dimples. "Umm, okay. I'm done now. Do you wanna see it?"

Lisa looks down as Chaeyoung leans back. "Oh. I can't see it, it's too high."

Chaeyoung laughs and stands up, spinning Lisa's chair around so she can see in the wall mirror. Lisa peers closer at the freshly black ink on her skin. Then she laughs.

"It's a rose."

"Yeah," Chaeyoung shrugs. "So you can remember how the girl who wrote that Halsey song that you like was super into you."

Lisa meets Chaeyoung's eyes in the mirror. "More like so I can remember how I was super into the girl who wrote that Halsey song I like."

Chaeyoung shifts her weight back and forth. Then she spins Lisa around again so they're facing each other. "I'm like, totally about to kiss you again."

"Okay," Lisa murmurs, watching as Chaeyoung puts her hands on the armrests of the chair. She towers over Lisa like this, her long frame looming over the chair. It slides a little on the floor until the wheels bump against the wall, and then they're kissing, Chaeyoung's hair falling in Lisa's face and her hands on Lisa's cheeks.

Lisa's fingers fumble at Chaeyoung's waist, looking for some kind of grip so she doesn't feel like she's floating away. Kissing Chaeyoung is like sinking into her. Lisa can feel the earnestness seeping into her bloodstream like this is one of the most present and real moments she's ever experienced. It leaves her feeling dizzy and she exhales against Chaeyoung's mouth, her tongue slipping between soft lips.

Chaeyoung's breath catches, but then she's tilting her head and deepening the kiss, her fingers scratching up behind Lisa's ears and into her hair. The music continues to play from Lisa's phone and her heartbeat can't keep the rhythm, can't slow down enough to find the beat.

She squeezes Chaeyoung's waist before pulling back, out of breath and vision blurring like she just spun around in the chair for a minute straight.

For a second she feels fifteen again, her body heating up from her first kiss.

When she opens her eyes, Chaeyoung's staring at her arm. "Um. Is that my phone number?"

Lisa crashes back to reality. "Oh. Shit." Her other hand slaps over the Sharpie on her arm. "Jennie did that."

Chaeyoung grins at her. "Here let me see. I'll give you another stick and poke."

Lisa gasps out a laugh. "No way, back off, you chipmunk."

Narrowing her eyes at the nickname Chaeyoung starts to tease Lisa, her hands clamping back down on the armrests, effectively trapping the younger girl in the chair. "Come on. Then you'll literally never be able to say you forgot my number."

Lisa playfully scoffs. "What makes you think I want to forget it?"

Chaeyoung smiles at that. "Cool, so you'll let me tattoo it on you, then?"

"I mean in this in the nicest possible way, but fuck off."

Chaeyoung bursts out laughing then leans down and gives Lisa the softest most gentle kiss on the cheek. "Alright," she says, her voice in Lisa's ear. Lisa can smell her perfume again and she shivers. "I guess this is goodbye, then."

"Goodbye?" Lisa asks, suddenly caught off guard.

Chaeyoung just raises her eyebrows and gives Lisa a small smile. "I mean, it's like midnight and you guys have been closed for like, two hours."

"Oh. Oh shit. Yeah." Lisa chuckles. "It's late."

"Yeah," Chaeyoung nods. "And I have rehearsals tomorrow, so." She shrugs cutely.

Lisa softens, her hands reaching out for Chaeyoung's waist again. "Well, uh. Can I see you again?"

"I hope so," Chaeyoung smiles. Then she crinkles her nose and points to Lisa's arm. "As I said, you have my number, right?"

"It's in my phone," Lisa deadpans and Chaeyoung laughs.

"Good. Now, don't forget to properly take care of that tattoo." She gestures to the stick and poke rose. "Wash thoroughly and apply unscented lotion until it's fully healed."

Lisa shakes her head in amusement. "Thanks for the advice."

"Thanks for a really fun first date." Then Chaeyoung smiles happily. "Goodnight, Lisa."

"Goodnight, Rosie."

Then Chaeyoung kisses her sweetly on the lips, laughing against Lisa's mouth, and heads out of the shop with one last wave over her shoulder.

Lisa spins around in the chair again and looks back in the mirror, her eyes finding the new tattoo under her collarbone. Then she glances up at her own eyes, trying to see if she can notice the happiness in them that she feels spreading through her body, deep inside her core.

After a second, she rolls her eyes at herself and looks away. She better knock that off now, or Jennie will be insufferable when she goes home.

Still, she can't help it, and through her whole drive home, during Jennie's maniacal interrogation for details, and even as she finally pulls back her covers and crawls into bed, she can't stop smiling.


	12. Don't Leave Me

Lisa's always prided herself on her ability to hide her emotions from pretty much anyone, but when Jennie comes to her one day and asks if she's okay – "if you're really okay, and tell me the truth, Lis," – she figures that there are changes that need to be made, asap.

Like toning down the moping, for a start, and cleaning her apartment, and actually going somewhere that isn't work or the ramen place down the street.

And okay, she's not a complete mess. She still hangs out with Jennie, and sometimes G-Dragon – though she's not sure if he counts since he's her boss – and she even makes conversation with the managers at work like, once a week, so. She's doing fine.

Except she's not. She knows she's not. And Jennie does too. Which is why they're both currently sitting on Lisa's bedroom floor trying to sort out her dirty clothes from her clean ones.

Jennie throws her a black shirt which is turning grey and tells her to put it onto the dirt pile, and Lisa sighs.

"You've thrown this to me three times now Jen, I'm–"

"–It needs to be washed!"

She looks down at the fading white letters on the once-black background of the shirt, running her fingers over the letters on the "Gang" logo. The other matching t-shirt with "Girl" written on it missing.

"Lisa!" She jumps, looking up at Jennie who is now standing above her, looking down at her with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face.

"What?"

"Put it in the laundry basket."

"I..." She knows she has to. She knows keeping the shirt that still has the faint smell of Chaeyoung on it is a bad idea, especially when she's been doing so well. (As well as she can, given the circumstances.)

But it's not her fault, really.

It's not like she kept the shirt on purpose just because it smells like her. It's not like she thinks of her when she's trying to sleep at night – still trying to adjust to a life without someone sleeping beside her for the first time in years. It's not like she purposely thinks about the kiss that Chaeyoung left on her lips in the doorway of their home – her home – before she left for good. An unspoken promise of 'I love you, I always will' lingering in the air – neither of them being brave enough to say it.

She always was a little afraid of love. She hates that the one person who she thought would never hurt her has rekindled that fear.

More than ever, she hates that she can't go a day without thinking about her; wondering how she's doing and if she misses her too; if she even thinks about her at all, and if she ever loved her in the first place.

She knows she did.

Maybe she still does.

"Lisa."

She can't think about that though. It's not fair.

"Happy?" she asks Jennie, throwing the shirt into the laundry basket, causing the pile of clothes to topple over. She hears Jennie sigh and she immediately knows what's coming.

"Maybe–"

"–Don't. Can we just not do this?"

"What?"

"You– everyone... Just. You're all dancing around me. Ever since. Just.. stop it, okay?"

"We're w–"

"–Worried about me, I know, but I'm fine."

"If you're sure."

"I am."

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

The worst thing about the breakup is how quick it happens.

One minute they're waking up in bed together, all smiles and lazy kisses and whispered good morning's, and the next minute Chaeyoung is leaving to get into a cab to the airport, a one-way ticket to L.A. in her coat pocket.

Maybe it went a little slower than that, but if Lisa thinks about it too hard she'll end up crying and she's just finished getting ready for her new job she'd rather not.

In the end, though, Lisa still hates how things ended. How there was no yelling, no smashed picture frames, no holes punched into the wall out of anger. There was nothing but tension and unshed tears that didn't fall until there was a door between the two of them.

Lisa regrets it all but most of all, she regrets not fighting for Chaeyoung to stay.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

The first family event she attends without Chaeyoung is painful, as she'd expected.

Her little cousin asks her where Chaeyoung is as soon as he arrives at their family reunion dinner and even though her aunt tells him to go play in the yard with the dog and to stop bothering Lisa, it still doesn't make her feel any better.

She excuses herself to go to the bathroom and she has to stare at the ceiling for five minutes because God damn it, she's cried over her too many times and she doesn't want people knowing that she's not okay.

Still, the comments her mom makes about how much she misses Chaeyoung's stories about her fish that she'd tell every year, get to her more than she wishes they would, because yeah, she misses Joohwangie too. She manages to laugh it off and change the subject but there's still a heavy feeling weighing down on her chest when she feels her cousin nudge her arm and ask her if she's okay.

"I'm fine, bud," she tells him with a smile, before continuing to move her food around her plate in hopes that it'll look like she's eaten some of it.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

The thing about breakups is, not only do you lose someone you love – someone you've seen practically every day for 8 years and who you never thought you'd lose – but your whole life is messed up a little. It's tilted on its axis slightly, and you have to readjust; to start a new life without that person that you've given everything to. You go back to sleeping alone and showering alone and only ordering one portion of chicken skewers instead of three (because we all know that one is not enough for Chaeyoung's stomach ;)).

Sometimes Lisa still sets two places out for dinner and she doesn't realize what she's done until she's plating the food up and she's about to yell "come on Chipmunk, the food's ready!"

It's like a stab in the gut every single time she realizes that the things she's doing, she's doing for someone who isn't here anymore.

Like automatically taking two mugs out of the cupboard on a morning, waiting for Chaeyoung to come out of the bedroom with messy hair and tired eyes. Or waiting at the door while Chaeyoung is, without a doubt, running late; her cheek turned, ready for the kiss that Chaeyoung will place there before she tells her that they have to go to work. Then she'll kiss her again and tell her she loves her, before leaving with that cute little finger wiggle that she calls a signal to go from "couple" to "colleagues" mode. Every morning, like clockwork.

Only, there's no Chaeyoung running late. No Chaeyoung kissing her cheek. No cute little wave or cheeky grin. Nobody but Lisa and an empty apartment with hot chocolate that tastes like shit because she could never quite perfect a cup of hot chocolate like Chaeyoung could.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

"Fuck the dorm."

"Aww, you don't mean that."

"Yes, I do. It smells after Bobby's prank and why would we still need it, if half of the group is gone and I'm pretty sure I just saw a ghost yesterday." Jennie laughs, the two of them squeezing onto the companies van together. "And the van's completely unnecessary since I'm the only one who's in the back because now that Jisoo unnie isn't here anymore, you always sit in the passenger seat.

"Oh, stop complaining. You'll get used to it."

"Remind me why I let you convince me to continue living with you?"

"Because," Jennie pulls her phone out of her pocket to check the time on her phone. "Jisoo moved out, leaving little ol' me all alone in that big empty apartment."

"It's like, the size of a shoebox."

"Also, because your favorite Thai restaurant is in Seoul?"

"That's a lie, you know my favorite Thai restaurant is in my hometown in Thailand."

"Okay then, because I'm your best friend and you love me more than anything?"

Lisa rolls her eyes but she's smiling in what feels like the first time in months and it feels nice even though she feels weird living in the same dorm as they used to, minus two former members.

Though, she thinks she might not be able to get used to it. She knows it'll be good for her, to have a fresh start.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Two months into her new job at YG as dance choreographer for the new groups there, it's only tempory, since Lisa couldn't imagine staying at the company that treated them so badly, but she didn't want to leave Jennie alone, who was the only one that stayed at the company after BLACKPINK got disbanded (Let's pray that won't happen in the next 100 years). 

Jisoo went off to acting and Rosé got an offer from Interscope Records to continue her music career as a soloist and become more famous in the western world and give her the treatment she deserves, Jennie got the same offer but declined after their new CEO, Kwon Jiyong also known as G-Dragon, begged her to stay which she eventually did, finding that going more international might be too intimidating for her. 

He proposed the same thing to Lisa, asked if she wants to go solo, but she rejected it politely, saying that she wanted to continue with dancing and doesn't feel comfortable to perform without her members, without her, and that's how she became YG's number one Choreographer.

"Alright Lisa, I think it's time for lunch." Kiel, one of the former choreographers of BLACKPINK, told her.

She waves off the new rookie group and picks her backpack up, ready to leave when she passes their old practicing room.

She has to admit it, she misses those times where all of them were rehearsing until every muscle gave up.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

She never thought the first time she'd hear Chaeyoung on the radio, it'd be on a cold Tuesday afternoon as she waits for her order at the well-known ramen shop. But sure enough, Lisa isn't hallucinating – she pinches herself to make sure – and yeah, that's Chaeyoung's voice alright.

It catches her off guard and she doesn't have time to process it before she's being handed her order, and most likely being judged for how much she ordered. She doesn't really care though, she just needs to get out of there as fast as possible before she ends up having a breakdown.

The drive (yes, she now is allowed to drive on her own since only Idols must be driven to all places) back home is taking longer since she stops at the convenience store to get some choco milk and a pack of cigarettes. She doesn't smoke them though. She figures that if Chaeyoung is slowly killing her then there's no reason for her to kill herself too.

Later, when she's suffering from a bellyache because drinking more of her favorite drink than anticipated while staring at the empty room that was once Chaeyoung's she felt miserable - even her cats watch her with a worried expression since they haven't seen their owner so sad - she pulls up the YouTube app on her phone and searches Chaeyoung's name. Well, she types in 'Rosé' and a second later there she is, with an official VEVO page and music video of her that has almost three hundred million views in only 2 and a half months, already surpassing the only music video that hasn't reached this amount yet, Stay.

 

_If only I could rewind time and start over  
You cry between the shadow and light  
Don't leave me, start running  
It's not the ending, you're my heartbeat  
Everything returns to the past in seconds  
I found a reason for living in the present  
Meeting you_

_No matter what, rain falling  
No matter what, darkness erasing  
I'll definitely save you  
You're not alone _

 

As a solo debut, Interscope put much of an effort to give Chaeyoung the possibility to reconnect her with their blinks. Everything was well promoted and it went exactly the way Chaeyoung wanted it to be, unlike it was every time at YG.

As much as it hurts her heart, she listens to the whole song, and she knows that it's about her. She knows that there's no way Chaeyoung could have sing with those emotions in her voice about someone she met in the five months that they've been apart; she knows that, as conceited as it sounds, if Chaeyoung were to sing a song about anybody, it would be her. It was always her, even they hadn't dated yet.

She never thought that Rosé's first single would be about their breakup, though. Maybe that's what hurts the most; that she chose to sing about the worst part of their relationship, rather than the happy memories.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

"Lisa?"

"Hi. Hey."

"Are you okay?"

If it was anybody else asking if she's okay, Lisa would just nod and tell them that she's fine, she's just tired, or she's had a long day at work. But this is Chaeyoung, her Chipmunk, the one person in the world who Lisa can't lie to, and before she knows it, she's holding back tears and gritting her teeth, trying not to let Chaeyoung hear that no, no, she's not okay.

"I heard your song today."

"Really?" She sounds excited, and Lisa finds herself smiling, ignoring the tear rolling down her face.

"Yeah it was–it was a–awesome."

"Lis."

"Yeah?"

"It's late in Korea. What are you doing up?"

She sniffs, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. "Uh, just you know, watching Lili being all daddy's little girl."

She thinks, for a second, that Chaeyoung buys it. That she'll accept it and move on, maybe ask Lisa how she's been or what she's been doing these past few months – anything to shift the conversation – but she doesn't. She stays quiet and if Lisa squeezes her eyes tight enough she can see her. The cute little gap in her teeth and the flicker of her eyelashes and the natural twinkle in her eye. She can see everything clear as day like Chaeyoung is actually here; like she hasn't been at the other side of the country for the past few months.

"I–"

"–Is the song... Is it...?" Chaeyoung is silent for a few seconds and Lisa is about to swallow her nerves and finish the sentence but then Chaeyoung is saying yes, and Lisa feels like she can't breathe. She's had her eyes squeezed shut for so long that she feels like she's just got off a rollercoaster – dizzy and breathless – and she knows that it's because she wants to throw up the amount of milk she has consumed, and she knows that she really shouldn't have called her; she knows that this was a mistake, and calling their exes after not having talked in 5 months never go well.

"You should–"

"Why are we not together, Chaeng?" Lisa sniffs. "We aren't Idols anymore and could be together without worrying about getting disbanded because we already are and there a lot of people, who liked and still like seeing us together, not to mention that the states are way more liberal-minded than Korea, so why aren't we?"

She hears Chaeyoung sigh and she finally opens her eyes and the tears flow out and she can't stop them, and she knows that Chaeyoung knows she's crying but she can't find it in herself to care. She's been psyching herself up for this conversation for months, but she always knew that it wouldn't be as easy as she hoped it would.

Still, it hurts when Chaeyoung doesn't respond.

"I know," Lisa says, sucking in a breath. "I know we, uh. I know. Sorry. That was stupid." She laughs. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Rosie, for everything. I'm sorry I couldn't..."

"No Lali, please, you–you were perfect. You are. You're–"

"–Chaeng–"

"–You were so good to me, you just know I like, couldn't keep up with everything that was going on and then with the label offer and the distance thing–"

"–Chaeyoung–"

"–and not knowing what to do, I couldn't–I had to focus on my career, you know? And I know that's a bad excuse, I know I–"

"–Chaeng, stop! Just... stop talking."

"Sorry."

"You're just making this worse."

"I'm sorry."

"Stop saying sorry."

"Sorry."

She runs a hand through her hair and sniffs up again, and if she was in a right mindset she'd be trying to keep the tears in – or at least wipe them away – but she knows it's a lost cause. She knows she'll end up crying until Jennie comes home from her date with Kai and cuddles Lisa until she eventually falls asleep.

For now, she's content to just be here with Chaeyoung in silence, because then at least she's with her.

"Lisa."

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you called me."

"You are?"

"Yeah. I, um. I've missed you. Your voice." She smiles, and the corners of her mouth twitch because usually, a statement like that would make her happy but right now, she feels like she's slowly breaking to pieces and all she can do is let it happen. "I have. I'm not just saying that."

"Why don't we talk anymore?"

"Truth?"

"Always."

"It..." Chaeyoung pauses and Lisa can hear her suck in a breath and let it out slowly, which she knows Chaeyoung only does when she's going to start crying, and the thought of Chaeyoung – her Chaeyoung – crying on her own has Lisa's heart pounding and her stomach-churning.

"Chaeng–"

"–I hate how much I hurt you by leaving. By not giving you a choice. I-I really hate myself."

"Ba-Chaeyoung Please, it's not your fault."

"It kind of is," she laughs bitterly, and it doesn't sound like the Chaeyoung she knows, and suddenly all those thoughts about if Chaeyoung is doing better without her fly out of the window because she knows. She knows she's not doing better.

"I don't-um. I don't know what to say, Em."

"Let me see you."

"What?"

"I want to come back to Korea. To visit. We can catch up, or–"

"–Yes."

"Maybe–wait, really?"

"Yes. Yeah. God, yeah." She holds her breath and doesn't let go until Chaeyoung tells her that she'll book the ticket and then suddenly she's thinking, maybe this phone call wasn't a mistake after all.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Their reunion is surprisingly not awkward.

Chaeyoung immediately points out how Lisa still isn't taller than her, and Lisa is making fun of Chaeyoung's chubby cheeks that she loves so much (of course, she doesn't mention that part, even though she knows that Chaeyoung knows), and then they're driving back to Lisa and Jennie's place in Jennie's van that Lisa had borrowed in exchange for one song on karaoke night, and suddenly everything feels normal.

She shows Chaeyoung around the small apartment and she knows Chaeyoung wants to ask why they didn't change their former rooms into something new, instead of leaving them empty and Lisa responds that they didn't have any time, but she's sure Chaeyoung exactly knows why.

Neither of them mentions it.

Lisa pulls up Chaeyoung's song and tries to sing along and maybe it's weird, that they're being so them about this whole thing, but Lisa doesn't care. Chaeyoung is here, actually here, next to her, singing along to her own debut single and reminding Lisa why she fell in love with her all those years ago, and everything is good again.

Jennie and Chaeyoung's reunion is filled with screams and tight hugs and cheek kisses and lots of "my hubby and my wifey's", and Lisa gets pulled into a group hug by Jennie and they all squeeze so tight that Lisa thinks she might die.

They plan an impromptu trip to the Aquarium with the rest of the two most popular third-generation girl groups - Twice and Red Velvet - who just came back from touring and preparing for their upcoming projects, and a special appearance by actress, Jisoo Turtle Rabbit Kim, and Lisa feels happy for what feels like the first time in her life. Jennie pulls her to the side and asks her if this is a good idea but Lisa's okay, finally, she's okay again, so Jennie just lets her be.

She's watching the penguins with Momo and Seulgi when she feels a poke in her side and she turns around to see Joy standing with two sticks of cotton candy. Both blue and raspberry; both Chaeyoung's favorite.

"Here," Joy says, handing her both sticks and then motioning behind her, and Lisa follows her line of sight to see Chaeyoung standing on her own in front of a huge tank of dolphins, her hands clasped in front of her as she watches them float around with an amazed smile on her face.

"Hey, store your chipmunk cheeks."

Chaeyoung turns to look at her, the twinkle in her eye still there, but looking a little confused. "What?"

"Noggin'... Chong-ah."

A smile forms on Chaeyoung's face and then she's laughing and shaking her head and Lisa is joining in, handing Chaeyoung the stick of cotton candy, and Chaeyoung doesn't say thank you but she stands a little closer to Lisa and the twinkles in her eyes are back and Lisa can feel herself falling deeper but she can't stop.

"You're such a pabo."

"Well I'm your–"

Chaeyoung's eyes widen slightly and all Lisa can do is cough and hope that Chaeyoung didn't notice her mistake – even though she knows she did – because in the middle of all of this fun and nostalgia, Lisa forgot that she's not Chaeyoung's anymore.

She tries not to think about it.

She stuffs her face with cotton candy and curses it for dissolving too fast.

Still, she makes Chaeyoung laugh by staining her lips blue, so she guesses it's okay.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

"You girls, I'm having BLACKPINK House flashbacks!" Yelled Nayeon.

Lisa remembers when Chaeyoung went to the aquarium by herself in one of the BLACKPINK House episodes, while she went to go bowling with Jennie since Sajangnim wanted to have more Jenlisa moments, to this day she still regrets not going with Chaeyoung and see her excited face when she saw a fish looking like Joohwangie. But she made up for it, countless times, whenever they were in a new city, she made sure to visit an aquarium with Chaeyoung as often as they could. 

Lisa didn't even realize all of her friends were standing in front of a tank with sea turtles as they get their picture taken by a woman who Jennie handed her phone to, all smiling and singing "OnceVeluvLink forever!".

All the nostalgia and throwbacks would usually get to Lisa but Chaeyoung is currently holding her hand – she has been for the last ten minutes – so the only thing she can feel right now is nervous. Just like the first time.

Her grandpa once told her that he fell in love with her grandmother all over again every time they had to part, and Lisa never understood how that was possible. That is, until right now.

She can feel Jennie's excited eyes on her, watching the way Chaeyoung drags her toward the gift shop, and she knows exactly what she's thinking. That this could be the start of them again. The thought of it has Lisa smiling so big that all she can do is blame it on the cotton candy making her hyper.

She buys Chaeyoung a stuffed clownfish toy, and Chaeyoung unoriginally calls it Joohwangie 2.0. Usually, Lisa would roll her eyes but all she can do is watch because she's not sure when she'll get to see this again; not sure if this is the last time she'll ever see Chaeyoung this happy in person, because of something that she did for her.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

"Hey Jen, can I ask you for a favor?"

"Yeah, what's up my favorite pain in the ass?" Noticing how wrong that sounded Jennie corrected herself. "My favorite sister by heart." 

Duality, no other comment.

"Could you maybe, uh, go home with Jisoo? Or like, go to Kai's or something?"

"What, why-oh! Ohhh," she smiles and nods slowly, and Lisa rolls her eyes as Jennie winks at her.

"Dude, not for that, I just wanna talk to her."

"Sure," Jennie winks again, this time more exaggerated, "talk," she says, nudging Lisa. "Say no more."

"Alright, cool, see ya–"

"–Wait!" Jennie grabs Lisa arm. "Wait, Lis, are you sure? She's only gonna be in Korea for the weekend, maybe–"

"–Jen, please just let me have this. I just want to spend a night with her. Not, not that kind of night. I just want to be with her, alright?"

"If you're sure."

She looks down at the comforting hand Jennie places on her shoulder and smiles, and it settles in that she doesn't really know what she'd do without her best friend. She can be annoying at times – like, all the time except when she's cooking dinner – but Lisa would do anything for her, and she'll forever be grateful for everything that Jennie has done to help her, both her and Jisoo.

Instead of telling her that though, Lisa just smiles, before shoeing her away and hoping that Chaeyoung hasn't left yet.

"You kids have fun!" Jennie tells them when Lisa hails a cab for her and Chaeyoung to head back to the apartment, "don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"Goodbye, Jennie."

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

"You want something to drink? I've got choco milk, uh, Jennie has some weird diet health drink but I'm not sure you would like it, I mean, I don't. Or–"

"–Thank you."

Lisa stops, standing up straight from where she had been leaning over to reach into the fridge for little cans of her precious choco milk. Chaeyoung is leaning with her back against the counter, awkwardly tapping a beat on her thighs, and all Lisa can do is smile.

"For what?"

She walks over to the other side of the kitchen and stands next to Chaeyoung, poking the straws in before handing one to Chaeyoung.

"Today. Just, you know. I really, uh," Chaeyoung's gaze flickers down to Lisa's lips as she licks them, and Lisa feels like the heart that's been pounding in her chest all day finally bursts. "I had fun," Chaeyoung finishes.

"Me too."

She didn't exactly plan the night out, but she still feels like maybe things are going off track. That maybe they should be talking about them, instead of awkwardly sipping at their kids-drinks and struggling to get a coherent sentence out as they stand together in the kitchen. Still, though, Lisa's not complaining. Chaeyoung is here, in her apartment, and things seem like they may go back to normal after tonight; not exactly normal but they'll be friends and maybe even call and FaceTime each other when Chaeyoung goes back to L.A. and most importantly, they won't be hurting anymore.

"I think we–" Her breath catches in her throat when Chaeyoung suddenly reaches out and fixes Lisa's bangs on her forehead, before tracing the outline of her face with two fingers. "Chaeng." She licks her lips again as Chaeyoung pushes her hand further back and then she's cupping Lisa's face and Lisa feels like she can't breathe again. Like if she breathes, or makes one wrong move, Chaeyoung will pull away.

She clenches her jaw as Chaeyoung runs the pad of her thumb over her bottom lip and it causes goosebumps to form all over her body; causes the hairs on the back of her neck to stand, and her throat to close up, and she's afraid to speak in case she ruins it.

"Thank you," Chaeyoung whispers, and Lisa's eyes fall shut as Chaeyoung presses their foreheads together. She puts her choco milk on the counter beside them before taking Lisa's and doing the same with hers.

Lisa's hands are free now, but she still doesn't quite know what to do with them. Usually, if this was five months ago, she'd place them on Chaeyoung's waist. She'd pull her closer, hug her a little tighter, and maybe kiss her neck.

Right now, though, all she can do is stand, and hope to God that Chaeyoung doesn't let go because she can't promise that her legs won't completely give in.

"Lisa," Chaeyoung whispers, and then her other hand is joining the one she has cupping Lisa's cheek, and Lisa knows that her skin is burning, and she knows Chaeyoung will be able to feel it, but she can't bring it in herself to care. All she can do is squeeze her eyes shut a little tighter, step a little closer, breathe a little deeper.

"Please." It comes out quietly; a hushed whisper that has tears springing to her eyes before she can stop them.

Her hands come up to grab Chaeyoung's elbows because she feels like she'll fall if she doesn't have anything to hold onto and then Chaeyoung is stepping closer, using both hands to tilt Lisa's head up.

"Kiss m–" and suddenly, Chaeyoung is everywhere that Lisa wants her to be.

Her lips are just as soft as Lisa remembers, but they're trembling and Lisa can't really do anything to stop the soft sob that comes out of her mouth as Chaeyoung wipes her tears with her thumbs. It's a wet and emotional first kiss but it's Chaeyoung, and Lisa's only sure of one thing, and it's that she doesn't want this to end. Not the kiss, not today, and not them.

It's a risky kiss but it's so naturally them that it doesn't take long for them to sink into it. To go back to their old tender habits; stroking delicate fingers over soft skin, pulling back slightly, only to pull each other closer, gentle touches and quiet moans, until they can't find any argument as to why they shouldn't be doing this.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Lisa doesn't sleep.

She's terrified that she'll wake up and Chaeyoung won't be there, and she's not sure if she'll be able to come back from this. She's not sure if she'll be able to carry on pretending like everything is okay if nothing changes between them.

And she knows they're sitting on borrowed time because Chaeyoung is going back to L.A. on Sunday, but Lisa needs to be selfish for once and just let herself enjoy this. If it's the last time, she wants to savor it. If that means not sleeping and listening to the sound of Chaeyoung's soft breathing in the silent room instead, then so be it.

She's not quite sure what she expects when Chaeyoung wakes up, but when she immediately pulls away, Lisa can feel her heartbreaking all over again.

"Rosie, please don't leave."

"Wha–? What time is it?"

"I don't know."

"I'm–"

"–Don't leave me."

Chaeyoung frowns, wiping her sleepy eyes, before sitting back down on the bed and reaching out to stroke Lisa's cheek.

"I was just gonna go to the bathroom." Then she's smiling, burying her hand into Lisa's hair again, and Lisa sits up, reaching out to cup Chaeyoung's face to pull her into a kiss. "Come with me."

"To the bathroom?"

Chaeyoung laughs into Lisa's mouth. "Back to L.A."

"Wha–" Lisa pulls back. "Seriously?"

"Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top? Please. Please?"

Lisa was taken aback by the request as well as by the sleepy cuteness of the other girl. 

"Please, Lali, I need my super hot choreographer teaching me the best moves and dances there are and blinks need the sub-unit they never got!"

"Oh my God, yes, fine, jeez, pull my arm why don't ya?"

"I love you."

Lisa bites her lip to stop it from trembling and then she's smiling, pulling Chaeyoung back down onto the bed and kissing her everywhere; her cheeks and her forehead and her neck and her hair; everywhere, until she kisses the smile on Chaeyoung's face and she knows she probably looks ridiculous because she can't stop smiling, but she doesn't care.

"I love you too."

"Okay, cool! Now, I really need to pee." Chaeyoung grins, pecking Lisa's cheek once more before going to the bathroom, the bounce in her step finally back after five months of dragging her feet across the floor.


	13. Babysitting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ella is Jensoo's daughter

Lisa definitely regretted ever buying Ella a penny board for her birthday because now she was sat in front of a shaking Ella with scrapes on her elbows, knees and a cut down her chin. What's more, is Lisa was freaking out; it's her first day of five days of looking after the three-year-old and she had already almost killed her when suggesting they try out her new birthday present; Jennie was going to kill her. Ella's shoulders shook as Lisa sat her down on the kitchen counter gently.

"Shhh..." Lisa soothed desperately, gently rubbing Ella's back. "Hey, hey, it's okay." Lisa hushed, Ella's breaths shaky and huge crocodile tears slipping down her once rosy cheeks, her chest heaving with sobs. 

"Hey, Lisa unnie will get you all cleaned up. I promise." She whispered, kissing her forehead gently as Ella continued to cry, nodding shakily. "I'm so sorry Ella." Lisa sighed, turning to open the kitchen cabinet. She stopped, running to wash her hands to not spread infection before darting back to the cabinet, throwing it open.

Lisa rummaged through the cabinet, finding the first aid kit. She held the first aid kit and sided, on her socks, towards the freezer, opening it and grabbing a packet of frozen peas, before opening the fridge and grabbing a bottle of grape juice (Ella's favourite) and kicking the doors closed with her foot, the first aid kit held by her teeth as she rushed back to Ella.

"I don't even know what I'm doing." Lisa murmured, placing the items on the counter next to the crying girl, her wailing seeming to simmer down. "Okay, I'm going to get you all cleaned up, then it won't hurt at all. You're being so brave, Ella." Lisa smiled, running her fingers through Ella's light brown hair gently, the little girl crying still. 

Lisa grabbed the frozen peas from beside her and a dish towel, wrapping the packet up. "Now, hold this against your knee, right there where it's going a little purple," Lisa said, voice soft as she guided Ella's tiny hand that clutched the towel. 

"It's going to be a little cold, but you're a brave girl so I know you can handle it." Ella nodded, breaths shaky, letting Lisa guide her hand to hold the peas over her bruised knee. Ella didn't seem to mind the cold and Lisa sighed in relief that one thing was tackled.

Lisa glanced at her phone as she rubbed Ella's back, seeing if Chaeyoung had texted to say she was back. As soon as Ella had tumbled Lisa immediately rang Chaeyoung; she picked up immediately, knowing Lisa taking Ella penny boarding was a recipe for disaster. She told her the damage and Chaeyoung said she'd run to the pharmacy for antibiotic cream and a proper gauze instead of the cartoon plasters that definitely wouldn't be enough for the scrapes on Ella's knees and elbows.

"Hey sweetie, we're going to have to wash up your battle wounds with some water." Ella wiped away her tears and mumbled something. "It may sting a little bit, so tell me if it's hurting too much, but you're going to be brave right? I promise I'll be brave."

"I-I c-can be b-brave." Ella nods. "My M-mommies say I'm v-very b-brave." Lisa smiles gently, picking up the little girl and bringing her to sit by the sink. Lisa sets her down and turns on the hose, putting it at low, gentle pressure so the water wouldn't attack the little girl's wounds.

"Okay..." Lisa then gently runs the water over Ella's scrapes, Ella's face wrinkling and her tiny hand come to clutch Lisa's wrist. "Just a little more, it won't hurt for much longer, I promise."

"Y-you also p-promised I wouldn't f-fall." Ella wailed, Lisa turning off the water after the water finished cleaning up the other knee that wasn't bruised. Lisa pushed her lips into a fine line in guilt and bowed her head.

"I know, Eluigi." Lisa sighed, using the nickname Jisoo gave her after Lisa claimed Ella to be her partner in crime, 'Limario and Eluigi'. 

"I'm so sorry for not holding on tightly enough." Ella managed a shaky shrug. Before she leaned forward to wrap her tiny arms around Lisa, the young girl hugging her back tighty, being careful not to graze against her scrapes. Lisa then heard the miraculous sound of the door opening, turning her head and seeing Chaeyoung bolt into the kitchen after kicking the door closed. Ella immediately brightened and Lisa sighed in mass relief her saviour was here.

"Hey Ella, how are you?" Chaeyoung asked, gently reaching out to stroke Ella's cheek. "Has nurse Lisa here treated you well?" Ella managed a small smile, her tears drying up. "Okay, well I've got some special cream that will help even more, okay?" Chaeyoung then pulled out the bag and handed Lisa the cream, Lisa smiling gratefully at her before opening the container. "This might sting just a little, but I promise it won't hurt too much."

"You can squeeze my hand if you'd like kiddo?" Lisa offers, opening her palm as an invitation. Ella nodded, holding Lisa's hand in her tiny on, only being able to clutch on to a few of Lisa's fingers. 

Chaeyoung, after thoroughly washing her hands, applied the cream to Ella's elbows and right knee, the peas now held by Lisa's free hand on Ella's left knee. Ella was quiet, squeezing occasionally but took it like a champ despite the occasional squirm when Chaeyoung pressed down a little too much.

"Okay, all done." Chaeyoung hummed, smiling warmly. "Wasn't too bad, was it?" Ella shook her head. "Now, Doctor Manoban-"

"I'm a Doctor now, huh?" Lisa smirked and Chaeyoung giggled a little, rolling her eyes fondly - something she definitely picked up from a certain mom of the little girl in front of them.

"Hush, now pass me the bandages." Lisa saluted her jokingly and handed her the packet. Chaeyoung carefully unwrapped the bandages and brought Ella closer to her. She placed the bandages on her elbows and knee before looking to her chin, cleaning the cut quickly before bringing out the packet of patterned plasters. 

"Okay, which one would you like?" Ella gazed at the colors wide-eyed before picking on with green and purple dinosaurs, Chaeyoung placing it over her chin. "Okay, all fixed up." She smiled as Ella's tears finally subsided, Ella offering a bright smile. "Wow, you were so brave! Right, Lis?"

"Braver than I could ever be." Lisa smiled, Chaeyoung then brushed Ella's curls out of her face and kissed the girl's cheek, Ella managing a giggle. "Okay, how about we get you something nice to eat now considering how brave you've been?"

Ella nodded ecstatically as Chaeyoung picked her up off the counter and placed her down for her to go read or play by herself. Ella then walked off as if she hasn't just tumbled down a tarmac hill not an hour before. Lisa sighed in relief before leaning back against the counter. She then looked to Chaeyoung apologetically.

"I'm sorry about getting her injured." Lisa apologizes sincerely. "She was just so excited when I first gave it to her and she was bored of watching cartoons on TV so what else could I have done? But Christ Chae, as soon as she fell I thought I'd killed her and when she started wailing my heart started aching because she was in so much pain-" Lisa stopped when she felt Chaeyoung cup her cheeks gently.

"You are adorable when you get all panicky." She giggled before pressing a soft kiss to Lisa's lips. "And you knew how to take care of her; you brought her back, cleaned the cut with water and iced her knee - albeit with frozen peas when we have an ice pack but it's better than you panicking and doing nothing. Plus she's fine now, she's back to her smiley self." Chaeyoung reassured as Lisa hopped up on to the counter.

"Yeah, thanks to you." Lisa rolled her eyes and leaned back on the heels of her palm. "I literally don't know what I would've done without you. She visibly brightened when you walked through the door plus you actually managed to calm her down." Chaeyoung shrugged. "You're some sort of kid whisperer."

"Hey, I can talk to Ella, not baby goats." Chaeyoung smiled cheekily at her terrible joke as Lisa rolled her eyes.

"That was terrible," Lisa said, despite chuckling. She then wound her arms around Chaeyoung, opening her crossed legs so Chaeyoung could stand between them. "You're going to be here tomorrow for the aftermath of sore bruises and changing bandages, right?"

"Yup," Chaeyoung replied, popping the p. "It's my day off."

"Thank goodness." Lisa sighed, resting her head against Chaeyoung's forehead.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

After Ella had eaten her dinner late that day she sat in front of the TV in Lisa's lap - her bandages having been changed after a bath - whilst Lisa leaned her head on Chaeyoung's side. Ella looked at the Disney movie, watching 'Beauty and the Beast' for the millionth time before she turned and looked at her unnies.

"Lisa unnie?" She asked, turning her body in Lisa's lap.

"What's up Belle?" Lisa asked. "You want some more ice cream?"

"No..." Ella glanced at the TV over her shoulder before puffing out her cheeks. "Maybe we can try to go on the board again tomorrow?" She asked, her small cat eyes (strikingly similar to Jennie's) shining up at her in hopefulness. Lisa turned to look at Chaeyoung who nodded.

"Of course, and this time I promise I won't let go." Lisa nodded as Ella wrung her arms around Lisa's neck, hugging her. Lisa leaned close to Chaeyoung after Ella had turned to face the TV again. "You're going to come, right?" Chaeyoung let out an airy laugh before nodding. "Okay, good."

The next day Lisa made sure to God that Ella wouldn't fall over, Chaeyoung took about a hundred pictures and the day finished with Ella having the biggest brightest smile, no tears whatsoever. Lisa hadn't felt prouder or happier to see Ella smiling so wide when she went down the hill by herself, not wobbling at all.


	14. Chaelisa's Angels

**Some Jensoo ft. Sandara mingling in Chaelisa's relationship (Soulmate AU)**

**(A/N: I know Chaelisa met in an elevator, but bear with me here)**

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Jennie hates her job. It’s soooooooo boring.

All she does all day every day is watch her Human live an especially pathetic life.

Being a guardian angel is kind of the worst.

Especially when you’re designated Human is the disaster that is Lalisa Manoban.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Okay, so it could be worse. She could be on Deathgate Duty, or Karma Patrol, or the absolute worst option, PetLand. She has zero desire to clean up after people’s pets who have passed on. No fucking thanks.

Being a guardian angel wouldn’t really be that bad, honestly. She gets to interfere sometimes, like when her Human gets herself into a sticky situation before it’s her Time.

But her Human this go-around is like, the most boring and pathetic Human that has ever existed. All she does is dancing, drinking way too much chocolate milk and watching too many cat videos.

Her last Human was one of those Adrenaline Junkies, so needless to say, Lisa Manoban is one hell of a downgrade.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Perhaps the only interesting part of being a guardian angel is the whole soulmate thing.

Or well, it would be interesting, except her Human’s soulmate is even more disastrous and pathetic than her Human is.

Jennie guesses that’s why they’re soulmates or something, but GOD (literally… Big Man are you listening? can she please get a transfer?) watching these lives is becoming excruciating.

Lisa’s soulmate is Park Chaeyoung and in Jennie’s opinion, she’s a fucking moron. She’s clumsy and bubbly and has a little too much pep for Jennie. She’s the embodiment of the bright cry emoji, way too emotional. But Jennie has to admit she's quite talented and at least Chaeyoung’s guardian angel is fun. Jisoo’s good for a laugh or two, which is always a plus when you’re employed in Eternity.

The days tend to drag.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“Alright Angels, today’s the day!”

Jennie and Jisoo stop their gossip of the other Angels in their division to turn around from the control desk.

Their supervisor is standing in front of them with a clipboard, looking much too excited. It’s a pretty typical expression for Sandara Park, Soulmate Manager, who loves her job so much you’d think she was born for it.

Chances are, she probably was.

“What’s today?” Jennie asks dryly. “Two of your Humans finally did the nasty?”

“No!” Sandara grins, completely undeterred. “Today is The Meeting!”

“Today is May 7th?” Jisoo gasps. “Wow, the days all blend together. For some reason, I thought it was next year.”

Sandara bounces on her feet and pulls up a chair, clapping her hands in anticipation. “Nope, it’s today. May 7th, 2012.” She sighs dreamily. “I love The Meeting. It’s always so romantic.”

Right. The Meeting. When Humans meet their soulmate for the first time. Jennie groans. That means today is the start of when she’ll have to watch that giggly loser Chaeyoung interact with her Human for the rest of their short lives.

Just great.

Well, at least there’s a good chance Lisa will leave her dorm today. So, there’s always that.

“Alright,” Sandara beams, scooting closer to the control panel in her chair. “Places everyone! It’s showtime! The day has begun!”

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

For Lisa, it is going to be a Very Important Day.

Probably the most important day of her life.

Because today is the day she finally has her audition for her dream job - Idol at YG Entertainment.

Yes… she thinks. Today is a Very Important Day.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

For Chaeyoung, it was like any other Tuesday.

She got up, had her well-rounded breakfast, showered, and left the house by 8 AM.

She went to music class at YG Entertainment, met up with some trainees, did some songwriting at her favorite coffee shop.

Yes… it was just like any other Tuesday.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Lisa walks into the coffee shop feeling pretty pleased with herself. She nailed that audition, even if she was a little awkward.

The judges were definitely impressed with her dance and her rapping.

And now she’s gonna treat herself with unsurprisingly some hot chocolate.

She grabs her beverage, turns around, and sees -

Her favorite chair in the back corner, completely empty and open for the taking.

Yes, today is a good day.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Chaeyoung finishes a song that she has been working on for quite a while and her coffee and puts her headphones in, ready to go home.

It’s been a long day, and she’s ready for dinner and to go to bed.

She pushes out of the coffee shop door and starts to walk back home, just like any other Tuesday.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

When Lisa leaves the coffee shop, she’s lost in her brain, thinking about what the trainee program is going to be like and what she’s going to have for dinner.

That’s why she doesn’t see where she’s going and rams straight into someone.

A very cute someone.

“Ow, oh no… sorry!” The person says and Lisa blinks because this person is like, way attractive.

“Uh,” she coughs. “Yeah. Yeah, no problem.”

The girl smiles bashfully, pushing her blue hair out of her face. “My bad. You’d be surprised how often that happens to me…”

“No problem,” Lisa says again. “It’s cool.”

Then they go their separate ways, and Lisa heads home, where she puts on a comfy pair of sweats and settles down to work on her next choreography.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Chaeyoung has kimchi fried rice for dinner. It’s delicious.

Then she crawls into bed and watches Tangled for the millionth time, shedding some tears while singing along to the ballad before going to sleep.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“Uh… you know, I’m fine with whatever happening, really, but I think… something isn’t right here,” Jennie says, peering down at the control panel in front of her.

Her Human and her soulmate are both in bed for the night… and they didn’t meet at all.

“I…” Sandara frowns, flipping through the papers on her clipboard. “This wasn’t supposed to happen!”

“Chaeyoung really needs to eat less kimchi or she'll never lose her chipmunk cheeks,” Jisoo absentmindedly says to herself.

Beside Jennie, Sandara’s frantically typing into her Communicator. “I don’t get it. Today was the assigned day! May 7th, 2012!”

There’s a beep from the device and Sandara’s face goes white.

“There was interference… Apparently an Unauthorized Save has performed twenty minutes away that set off a chain of events and messed everything up.”

“So…” Jisoo says. “What do we do?”

Sandara throws her hands in the air. “I don’t know! This has never happened before. I think I’ll have to contact the boss.”

Jennie scowls. She hates the Boss. (Sorry in advance)

“Orrrrr, we could just… restart the day,” she suggests.

Sandara’s mouth falls open. “We can’t do a Restart without consent from the Boss.”

Jennie rolls her eyes. “Well it’s not our fault and they’re gonna authorize it anyway… they always do in these situations. And waiting for consent could take days, and then by the time we restart so much will have happened…”

“You know... I think Jennie has a point, Dara unnie,” Jisoo nods in agreement. “What if we put in the proper paperwork, but we just… do it anyway?”

Sandara looks torn and Jennie scoffs, deciding to take it into her own hands. “Okay, well while you bitches discuss that…”

She turns back to the control panel and lifts the emergency glass over the giant red Restart button.

Then she pushes it.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

For Lisa, it is going to be a Very Important Day.

Probably the most important day of her life.

Because today is the day she finally has her audition for her dream job - Idol at YG Entertainment.

Yes… she thinks. Today is a Very Important Day.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

For Chaeyoung, it was like any other Tuesday.

She got up, had her well-rounded breakfast, showered, and left the house by 8 AM.

She went to music class at YG Entertainment, met up with some trainees, did some songwriting at her favorite coffee shop.

Yes… it was just like any other Tuesday.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“KIM JENNIE!”

“What?”

Sandara’s gaping at the control panel, the beginnings of the same day sprawled in front of them once again. “You didn’t… You can’t!”

Jennie shrugs. “Too late, Red. I did.”

“I am so getting fired for this.”

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“DO SOMETHING!” Jennie shouts at the control panel screen after having watched her Human and her Human’s stupid soulmate live the exact same day again. “YOU’RE THE MOST BORING LOSERS ON THE PLANET!”

“Jennie,” Sandara pinches her nose. “This is why we can’t just restart without the Boss's approval. Why did you think anything would change?”

Jennie has no answer to that so she just grumbles to herself. Jisoo however, hums thoughtfully. “Well, of course, nothing changed. We didn’t change it!”

Sandara shoots her a confused look but Jisoo’s already grinning and reaching for the red Restart button.

“Jisoo n-”

And she pushes it.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

For Lisa, it is going to be a Very Important Day.

Probably the most important day of her life.

Because today is the day she finally has her audition for her dream job - Idol at YG Entertainment.

Yes… she thinks. Today is a Very Important Day.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

For Chaeyoung, it was like any other Tuesday.

She got up, had her well-rounded breakfast, showered, and left the house by 8 AM.

She went to music class at YG Entertainment, met up with some trainees, did some songwriting at her favorite coffee shop.

Yes… it was just like any other Tuesday.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Sandara screams.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“Good thinking, Chu,” Jennie grins and Jisoo winks at her.

“I’m full of ideas, Jendeukie. Full of ‘em.”

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

But maybe not so much.

After a whole day of altering little things to change the direction their Humans are going (without compromising their Free Will, of course), they still haven’t met.

Jennie had moved a public trash can one inch to the left so Lisa would hit it with her elbow and spill hot chocolate on herself and have to go home and change and therefore skip steps in her day.

Jisoo had silenced Chaeyoung’s phone so she never received a call from her trainee friend and went to the park instead of the coffee shop to do the songwriting.

They’d manipulated plants, weather, inanimate objects of all shapes and sizes, and still their Humans didn’t meet.

What the fuck?!

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“I’m sorry, what did you think would happen?” Sandara huffs. “You can only manipulate outside circumstances and not their Free Will. This is why you need sanctioning approval !”

Jennie rolls her eyes and presses the Restart button again just to spite Sandara.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

For Lisa, it is going to be a Very Important Day.

Probably the most important day of her life.

Because today is the day she finally has her audition for her dream job - Idol at YG Entertainment.

Yes… she thinks. Today is a Very Important Day.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“AGH SHE’S SO BORING I CAN’T STAND IT!” Jennie yells, watching Lisa do the same morning routine for the third time on the same day. “I want to kill her!”

So she does.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“KIM JENNIE IF YOU PRESS THAT ONE MORE TIME I AM GO-”

“Going to what?”

They all whip around to see a woman with a very stern expression staring coldly at them.

Jennie smiles innocently. “Hello, Boss.”

“What’s this I’m seeing here?” She looks at the control panel, where their fourth attempt on the same day is beginning to play out. Lisa’s just waking up and going about her Very Important Day. “Dara…” The Director turns to the usually chipper Supervisor. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Chaerin… it’s nothing. We just had… a slight… hiccup. You know how these things go.”

“I don’t actually.” And she looks at Sandara so disappointedly that even Jennie feels bad for the Angel.

She rolls her eyes and lets out an exaggerated sigh. “Look, Boss. Please turn your attention to my designated Human.” She nods her head toward the control panel. “Just look at. Her bangs and her child-like attitude and her awful wardrobe, whereas I can't do anything about it. Don’t you just want to… kill her?”

CL raises an eyebrow coldly, but Jennie sees her look at her Human with clear disdain.

“No,” CL grits out. “That would be against protocol. And if I hear that you do something like that again, you will all be demoted.”

Sandara is stricken, her love for her job probably one of her most passionate personality traits. Jennie sighs.

“No problem, boss. We wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Good…” CL gives them all another cold glare before briskly leaving the room.

“Well,” Jennie says. “Wouldn’t dream of it more than once more for old time’s sake.”

And she pushes the Restart Button.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

For Lisa, it is going to be a Very Important Day.

Probably the most important day of her life.

Because today is the day she finally has her audition for her dream job - Idol at YG Entertainment.

Yes… she thinks. Today is a Very Important Day.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

For Chaeyoung, it was like any other Tuesday.

She got up, had her well-rounded breakfast, showered, and left the house by 8 AM.

She went to music class at YG Entertainment, met up with some trainees, did some songwriting at her favorite coffee shop.

Yes… it was just like any other Tuesday.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Lisa leaves her audition feeling very confused.

She thinks she performed well and will hopefully get accepted, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of deja vu that had kept washing over her every few minutes.

She thinks maybe she needs to get out of the house more.

She’s starting to lose it.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“Okay, so after assessing the probable outcomes of all the scenarios, I’ve determined the path that will most likely lead to their Meeting,” Jisoo says, chewing on a pen and leaning over the control panel.

Sandara seems near hysterics at this point. “I don’t care! Just do it!”

“Okay, no need to shriek,” Jisoo murmurs, giving Jennie a look and doing the crazy gesture near her ear. “Alright, Phase One, begin!”

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“Blowing a gust of wind in three… two… one…”

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Chaeyoung’s reading over her music sheet when she steps out of the coffee shop.

It’s a beautiful day, sunny blue skies and very mild. She hums to herself, headphones in as she walks.

She’s squinting down at the paper, thinking she sees an error in her work, when a large gust of wind comes out of nowhere and whips around her. The paper flies out of her hands and down the sidewalk. She gasps, and takes off at a run, moving around people and chasing it as it flutters almost unnaturally away from her.

“No no no no!”

She finally catches up to it right before it flies into the middle of a busy street.

“Phew,” she breathes out, clutching the paper to her chest. She quickly stuffs it into her bag before it has a chance to blow away again.

Then she looks around her. This isn’t the way she typically goes home, but maybe a nice change of scene could be good for her?

She turns down the street, humming to herself again as she walks.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“Phase One complete,” Jisoo grins. “Now for Phase Two.”

“My body is ready,” Jennie says.

Sandara groans.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“There she is! And he’s coming… open the door!”

Jisoo slams her hand on the control panel.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Lisa’s about to enter her favorite coffee shop when the door swings open unnaturally quickly and slam into her.

“Oomph,” she grunts as a man comes through. He’s looking in confusion at the door like he’s never opened one before. Fucking moron. “Watch it, dude,” she mutters, rubbing at her arm.

He gives her a glare. “Are you looking for a fight?”

“What?” Lisa scowls. He looks like an infant. Or some nerdy cop. “Are you threatening me?”

“Do you want me to?” He asks, his voice suddenly genuine. “Come on, punch me!”

What the fuck…

“Please!” The man begs. “Right in the schnoz.”

Lisa just wants her damn hot chocolate. She sighs, hefts her bag over her shoulders, and -

Punches the guy straight in the face.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“OH SHIT!” Jennie yells, leaning forward.

She suddenly has way more respect for her Human.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

The man falls to the ground with a groan and Lisa shrugs.

“Hey, that’s assault!” Someone yells and Lisa looks around.

“He asked me to!” She calls to whoever it was, but she can’t pinpoint exactly who it was, and there’s a lot of people on their cell phone around. A feeling of regret passes over her. “Fuck.”

And she books it out of there.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“Hm not how I saw Phase Two going, but it was nevertheless successful,” Jisoo nods, impressed.

“This is truly the worst day,” Sandara whines, her head in her hands.

Jennie offers her some popcorn.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Chaeyoung’s walking back to her apartment, enjoying her new route. She doesn’t usually go this way but it’s not so bad!

Suddenly, she notices a large bus pass by in her periphery and she minutely turns to look at it. Which turns out to be a mistake.

“AH!”

She tries to cover her face, but as the bus passes, it goes over a large puddle of water, sending a wave of it in Chaeyoung’s direction. It washes over her, drenching her to the bone.

She stands there, shocked, dripping, and cold.

Very cold.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“Ooh, did you do that Jennie?” Jisoo turns to her.

“Nah, that was just Earth doing its thing.”

“Classic,” Jisoo laughs. “Just classic.”

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

Lisa pants and looks over her shoulder, slowing down as she gets to a bench.

She believes, she’s run far enough that she hopefully won’t get arrested?

She plops down on the bench and strips her leather jacket off, now that she’s all hot and sweaty from her run.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“Umm. Unnie.”

“What?” Sandara snaps, her face still hidden in her hands.

“It’s about to happen.”

Sandara sighs. “I don’t care, Jisoo. Whatever your next phase is, just do it. I don’t care.”

“No,” Jennie shakes her. “Not a Phase… The Meeting.”

Sandara glances up. “The Meeting?”

“Yeah,” Jisoo beams. “THE Meeting.”

“Holy shit.”

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

There’s water in Chaeyoung’s shoes. It’s really not comfortable and she’s shivering.

She breaks for the nearest bench and sits down next to another girl, who seems to be breathing heavily and sweating profusely.

Chaeyoung doesn’t give a poop right now, to be honest.

She takes her shoes off one by one and dumps the water out before putting them back on her feet. Then she wrings out her soaking hair.

The rest… well. Not much she can do about that right now.

When she finally looks up, the girl next to her is inspecting her hand. It appears to be bleeding at the knuckles.

“Uh, hey,” Chaeyoung says, her eyebrows furrowing. “Do you want a Bandaid? I have one in my backpack.”

The girl glances over at her. “Uh. Sure?”

Chaeyoung digs in her backpack and hands over one of the Bandaids she keeps in there for emergencies. She rips the paper off and grips it by the sticky part, holding it out. The girl chuckles a little and offers her hand. Chaeyoung gently sticks the Bandaid on, smoothing it down carefully.

“Thanks,” the girl says, her voice kind of soft and questioning. “This uh, doesn’t really fall in line with the kind of day I’m having.”

Chaeyoung hums sympathetically. “Bad one?”

“Kind of…” the girl says.

“Yeah, me too.” Chaeyoung sighs. “I almost lost my song and a bus drove by and splashed me with this water and I’m still like ten blocks from home and I have water in my shoes! Also, I’m cold and covered in like sewer water.”

The girl frowns. “Gross.”

“I know.” Chaeyoung pouts and the girl chuckles.

“Here, you can like, wear my jacket for a bit to warm up.”

Chaeyoung gives her a wide-eyed look. “Are you sure? I mean like, I’m a stranger and that’s a nice jacket.”

The girl shrugs. “I mean, I was just running because, well long story, but I’m really hot, and you gave me this Bandaid, so it’s the least I can do.”

She hands over the jacket and Chaeyoung reluctantly takes it, wrapping it around her shoulders.

It smells really good.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“OH MY GOODNESS!” Sandara’s crying and dabbing at her cheeks with a tissue. “THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.”

Jennie rolls her eyes.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“Thanks. I’m Chaeyoung,” the girl says, and Lisa feels her heart flutter in her chest.

The girl - Chaeyoung - looks really good in her jacket, even if she kind of seems like a drowned chipmunk currently. Her hair is all damp and her mascara is runny, but her eyes… they’re so… alive. Lisa’s stomach flips.

“Uh, Lisa.” She sticks out her good hand and Chaeyoung shakes it, a smile lighting up her face.

“So why were you running, Lisa?”

Lisa doesn’t know why she tells - she doesn’t know this girl - but maybe it’s the jacket and her luminescent smile and the way the moment for some reason feels like a bunch of things clicking into place. So she tells Chaeyoung all about her audition and how she kept feeling like she had deja vu and then how she punched that guy and maybe almost got arrested.

Chaeyoung widens her eyes at all the right parts and laughs when Lisa describes the random stranger she punched and Lisa feels all the right kinds of perfect until suddenly Chaeyoung’s holding her jacket out and saying she has to go.

Then she feels disappointed.

“Uh.” Lisa stares at the jacket. And stares at Chaeyoung. And her mouth just like… does things by itself. “Why don’t you just wear it?”

Chaeyoung blinks. “What?”

“I mean,” Lisa coughs, heat rising to her cheeks. “It looks like you need it more than I do right now, so I can just get it back from you later. Or something?”

Stupid Lisa.

“How?”

“Well, how about you give me your number? And I can just text you to meet again?”

… Smooth… Lisa?

That’s unexpected.

Chaeyoung tilts her head to the side, studying Lisa with playful eyes.

“Yeah,” she says eventually. “Yeah, okay.”

And she puts her number in Lisa’s phone, then drapes Lisa’s jacket over her shoulders and shoves her hands in the pockets.

It’s a little big on her but in a good way. Lisa swoons a little.

And that’s saying something because Lalisa Manoban does not swoon.

“I’ll text you then,” Lisa says and then Chaeyoung’s smiling and leaving and Lisa’s watching her go and definitely liking the view.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

“What?” Jennie’s jaw drops. “That’s it ? They’re just… going home?!”

Jisoo gives her a look. “Well, it’s just The Meeting. What were you expecting? Marriage?”

“They’re so boring,” Jennie groans.

“They’re so cute! ” Sandara gushes like a proud mother.

Jennie doesn’t know about that, but looking at the control panel and watching that girl skip home in her Human’s cool leather jacket… Jennie’s suddenly feeling a little protective.

That giggling moron better not hurt her Human. Jennie is certain about that.

If she does, even divine intervention won’t save her.

♥ ♠ ♦ ♣ ♦ ♠ ♥

That was a long May 7th. 

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me on:
> 
> Wattpad: phoebeobrien96  
> Tumblr: phoebeobrien96  
> Twitter: PhoebeOBrien96  
> Instagram: Chaelisa0507  
> Aff: PhoebeOBrien


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